Amanda Lemos has seen everything in the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). Almost.
Five-fight win streaks, first-round finishes, challenging wins, and excruciating losses—she has experienced it all. However, the one feather that’s missing from her cap would be the strawweight title.
The second fight of Amanda’s 2024 campaign is scheduled for this week’s main event in Las Vegas against Virna Jandiroba. The former championship challenger had a successful comeback to the ring at UFC 298 in February, winning by unanimous decision over Mackenzie Dern.
The Brazilian competitor, Amanda, won the first two rounds on all three scorecards and then held off the fierce late push from Dern, who had taken Tatiana Suarez’s place a few weeks before the event. On paper, it appears to have been an easy victory, with Amanda earning 29-28 scores overall. However, in action, it was a very competitive battle.
“We (Amanda and her support staff) don’t succumb to any kind of pressure ahead of a fight, and my focus solely remains on Virna. And once I beat her, hopefully, I’ll get closer to another shot at the belt,” said the southpaw ahead of a fight that could catapult her to the women’s strawweight division leaderboard.
(L-R) - Amanda Lemos of Brazil kicks Jessica Andrade of Brazil in a strawweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on April 23, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Amanda came agonisingly close to touching the belt last year when she went head-to-head against Zhang Weili but lost after putting up a competitive five-round fight. But she aims to bury the ghosts of her past and add another fight to her win column.
“At first it wasn’t a good feeling. But after a while, I put my head down and said, ‘This is not my time. My time isn’t over yet, and it will come soon,” she said.
“Regardless of the result, I’m always optimistic and try not to live in the past. I try to return to my schedule and start training quickly. I try to stay active as much as possible, which has helped me overcome the loss last year,” added Amanda.
Out of the 14 wins in her UFC career so far, 11 of them have been outright finishes and eight have come in the first round. As the stats suggest, Amanda tries to shift gears quickly and overpower her opponent when she spots an opportunity to exploit.
On the other hand, Jandiroba, too, was an aggressive grappler once and has eight first-round finishes as well. But lately, she has shifted towards a laid-back approach, which involves mastering the waiting game to perfection. Her last four fights have gone the full quota of three rounds and have all been won by unanimous decisions.
When asked if her aggression would help her gain the upper hand over Jandiroba, Amanda said, “That’s who I am. I go inside the cage and try to earn an outright finish. I want to win the fight as soon as possible. To me, every fight is the same. Be it Virna or whoever, I go in with the same mindset. ”
Amanda, who made her MMA debut in July 2014, will be raring to celebrate her 10th anniversary with a first-round win come Sunday, which she’s often known for.
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