NEW YORK – It’s not just like the UFC’s girls’s flyweight division is simply overflowing with fighters, so a Viviane Araujo stat this week may be an anomaly.
Nonetheless, the actual fact stays: For the fourth straight battle, Araujo (12-6 MMA, 6-5 UFC), from Brazil, will step into the cage in opposition to one other Brazilian. This time, it’ll be Karine Silva (18-4 MMA, 4-0 UFC) at UFC 309 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Hulu/FX, ESPN+) on Saturday at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York.
It’s been a blended bag of outcomes for the 37-year-old Araujo in that run, which incorporates choice losses to Amanda Ribas and Natalia Silva, the latter of which got here in February, and a win over former title challenger Jennifer Maia.
And whereas she’d prefer to battle somebody not from Brazil, she is aware of it means girls’s 125-pounders within the UFC are making her homeland proud.
“(I’d prefer to battle) any person from one other nationality, however it solely present exhibits the value of feminine MMA in Brazil,” Araujo stated Wednesday at a media day for UFC 309. “It exhibits the work that we put in, and (the matchups in opposition to Brazilians are) only a results of that.”
When Araujo arrived within the UFC in 2019, she delivered a third-round knockout in opposition to Talita Bernardo – a Brazilian; go determine. However since then, it’s been 10 straight 15-minute fights and a middling 5-5 document of all choices.
Araujo stated she’s battled current accidents and surgical procedures, however now has recovered, and has the added inspiration on the house entrance of her spouse on the brink of give start. She thinks Silva may need the battle on the canvas together with her, but in addition stated she’s prepared irrespective of the place the close to 3-1 favourite needs to play issues.
“You’ll be able to’t neglect that I’m a jiu-jitsu black belt. I feel she must be cautious earlier than coming right down to the bottom. However I’m able to strike together with her and imagine it’s going to be some heavy artillery coming at her.”
Try Araujo’s full interview within the video above.
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