PFL 8 2023 Full Main Card: Ferreira vs. Greene & Four First-Round Finishes

Watch the complete PFL 8: 2023 Playoffs main card from New York, where four of five fights ended in the opening round. The full event video includes Renan Ferreira vs. Maurice Greene, Larissa Pacheco vs. Olena Kolesnyk, Denis Goltsov vs. Jordan Heiderman, Marina Mokhnatkina vs. Amber Leibrock and Nathan Kelly vs. Damion Nelson.

The August 18, 2023 card at The Theater at Madison Square Garden decided the heavyweight and women’s featherweight finalists in one of the quickest playoff main cards in PFL history. The four semifinal fights combined for just 11 minutes and one second of cage time.

Renan Ferreira knocks out Maurice Greene to reach the heavyweight final

The main event matched Renan Ferreira with Maurice Greene for a place in the 2023 PFL heavyweight championship fight.

Ferreira used his reach to work behind straight punches and kicks before finding the decisive opening late in Round 1. A right hand dropped Greene, and follow-up punches brought the stoppage at 4:46. Ferreira advanced to meet Denis Goltsov in the $1 million championship bout.

That result became even more significant three months later. Ferreira faced Goltsov at the 2023 PFL World Championship and stopped him just 26 seconds into Round 2 to win the heavyweight title.

Larissa Pacheco finishes Olena Kolesnyk in just 14 seconds

The shortest fight of the card belonged to Larissa Pacheco. Facing Olena Kolesnyk for the third time, Pacheco attacked immediately with a rapid series of right hands.

Kolesnyk went down and the fight was stopped after only 14 seconds. At the time, it set a new record for the fastest finish in women’s PFL history, breaking Pacheco’s own 45-second mark from her previous fight against Amber Leibrock.

The victory sent Pacheco into the inaugural PFL women’s featherweight championship fight against Marina Mokhnatkina. Pacheco later won that final by unanimous decision, adding the featherweight crown to the lightweight championship she had captured in 2022.

Denis Goltsov and Marina Mokhnatkina submit their way into the finals

Denis Goltsov had reached the PFL playoffs multiple times without making the championship fight. Against unbeaten Jordan Heiderman, he finally broke through.

Goltsov took the fight to the ground, controlled from top position and eventually locked in an arm-triangle choke. Heiderman tapped at 4:16 of Round 1, sending Goltsov to the heavyweight final for the first time.

The other women’s featherweight semifinal ended even earlier. Seven-time sambo world champion Marina Mokhnatkina grounded Amber Leibrock and attacked her arm from top position. The armbar finish came at 1:45 of Round 1 and was, at the time, the fastest submission by a woman in PFL history.

Those two submissions meant that every playoff semifinal on the main card ended before the second round began.

Nathan Kelly vs. Damion Nelson goes the distance

The only main-card fight to reach the judges was the opening showcase between Nathan Kelly and Damion Nelson.

Kelly entered on a seven-fight winning streak and maintained the stronger pace over three rounds, mixing combinations with repeated attempts to push Nelson toward the SmartCage and initiate grappling exchanges. Nelson remained competitive, but Kelly earned a unanimous decision with scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.

Once that 15-minute contest ended, the rest of the main card moved at a dramatically different speed. Mokhnatkina, Goltsov, Pacheco and Ferreira then produced four consecutive first-round finishes, with Pacheco-Kolesnyk lasting only 14 seconds.

A full PFL main card built around playoff finishes

That sequence is what makes PFL 8 unusual to revisit in full. It was not simply a card with several stoppages: every heavyweight and women’s featherweight semifinal ended inside five minutes, and both eventual 2023 champions competed on the same main card. Ferreira advanced with a knockout before later winning heavyweight gold, while Pacheco needed only 14 seconds to take the final step toward becoming a champion in a second PFL division.

For another finish-heavy full card, MMAtown also has the PFL 3 2025 full main card, where every bout ended inside the distance. More recent PFL action is available in the PFL Tampa main-card highlights, featuring Cris Cyborg’s 30th professional victory.

The current PFL schedule continues with PFL Africa Morocco on October 10 in Casablanca, followed by PFL Chicago on October 16.