Amanda Lemos earned a shot on the UFC strawweight title after going 7-1 in a 35-month span, capped off by stoppages of Michelle Waterson-Gomez and Marina Rodriguez. Now she needs a definitive victory when she faces Zhang Weili at UFC 292 on Aug. 19.
“Weili may be very explosive,” Lemos mentioned this week on MMA Preventing’s Trocação Franca podcast. “She likes to complete fights identical to myself, so we’ll set the octagon on hearth. I’ll get in there to win. Now we have a pleasant technique, and I’m certain I’ll depart the cage with the belt.”
Lemos admits she was shocked to land the battle in Boston after months of hypothesis a few potential UFC present in China headlined by Weili, particularly after Chinese language contender Yan Xiaonan knocked out Jessica Andrade. However now Lemos is out to make historical past.
“Weili may be very harmful, so I’ve to remain alert of all of her actions,” Lemos mentioned. “Her being that explosive is an efficient factor we’re learning in coaching. It’s going to be a brilliant robust battle. We’ll give our all in there. She needs her belt, I would like that belt for me, so it undoubtedly gained’t be left within the arms of the judges.”
A former Jungle Struggle bantamweight champion, Lemos scored finishes in 5 of her seven victories since becoming a member of the UFC in 2019, the primary three being first-round stoppages over Montserrat Ruiz, Livinha Souza, and Miranda Granger.
Zhang has the very same 7-2 octagon report with 4 finishes, however has demolished higher-ranked foes in Carla Esparza, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Andrade, and Jessica Aguilar.
“I’m sharpening my instruments in all areas,” Lemos mentioned. “I really feel I’m evolving in every coaching. I’ve a brand new jiu-jitsu coach and he’s badass. I’m studying new methods I can’t wait to place them in apply. I can’t let you know the way it’s going to finish, but it surely gained’t go the gap. It’s both a knockout or a submission, that’s what I’m coming after on August 19.”
The long-awaited shot at UFC gold comes seven years after Lemos decided to quit the sport attributable to lack of alternatives as Jungle Struggle champion. After working as a bike taxi driver in Belem to make ends meet, Lemos solely determined to return to MMA when her supervisor Wallid Ismail referred to as with a short-notice UFC alternative in opposition to Leslie Smith.
Lemos agreed to it regardless that she hadn’t skilled for months, after which injured herself in coaching. Lemos nonetheless flew out to Glasgow, Scotland, to face Smith and misplaced by way of second-round TKO, then was suspended two years by USADA and needed to bear surgical procedure to deal with a critical backbone harm. She solely returned to motion in late 2019 to begin her spectacular strawweight run.
“It was my alternative, I wouldn’t say I used to be damage. I’d nonetheless go [and fight Smith] even when I solely had one leg or one arm,” Lemos mentioned. “The physician that did my [spine] surgical procedure advised me to search out one other profession, however I all the time believed in God, and right here I’m.”
