Having been in Professional Fighters League from Day 1, Natan Schulte is keenly aware of how the playoff format works, and he plans to get off to a good start this season.

Two-time PFL lightweight titleholder Schulte (23-5-1, 12-2-1 PFL) returns to the cage for the first time this year at 2023 PFL 3 on Friday. “Russo” is one of the PFL originals who has been competing in the promotion since the debut of the season format in 2018, and boasts a total of 15 fights under the PFL banner. In his most recent appearance at the PFL Championships event last November, Schulte forced Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Jeremy Stephens to tap to an arm-triangle choke in the second frame. This year, Schulte aims to become the first three-time champion in promotional history, and it all starts with a quick finish in his season debut.

“I'm very happy for this season. I think I'm the fighter who has more fights in the PFL, I’ve been fighting here since 2018, [I have] many, many fights in a couple of years. For this year, I have a good match against Stevie Ray. He’s a very tough guy, and I'm gonna try to finish or knock him out. I'm gonna try to finish. He has very good jiu-jitsu, but for this season, I'm so happy to fight again. This is my work, I love to fight. I love to train. That's it. Let's do it.”

(00:00) Intro

(00:38) His friendship with Raush Manfio

(02:25) Submitting Stephens

(03:29) Praising Stephens’ toughness

(04:59) His motivation for the 2023 PFL season

(06:03) Preparing for Ray

(07:12) Commenting on PFL’s evolution over time

(09:17) Hoping to face Manfio only in the finals

(10:54) Outro