Viana fought once last year, making short work of Emily Whitmire at UFC Vegas 8 in August. A protege under Tata Duarte at Rio de Janeiro’s TFT team, “Dama de Ferro” says she had a “great camp” for Saturday night’s UFC 258, where she meets Mallory Martin, but got spoiled by the exclusive attention she got last year.
“It was a great camp but, personally, I liked the other one better, with gyms closed,” Viana said in an interview with MMA Fighting, “because that way I had the gym all for myself to train, the attention was all on me. But it was a great camp. We focused on what she does best and added a lot of new stuff to my game.”
Viana guarantees she felt no pressure going into her most recent fight, considering she was on a three-fight skid under the UFC banner, and managed to pull off a two-minute finish in Las Vegas. Martin, on the other hand, won six of her last seven, capped off by a second-round stoppage over Hannah Cifers.
“Dama de Ferro,” who has a loss to Cifers in her record, considers herself the worst possible matchup for Martin.
“Our styles are similar, we both grapple, but I think she will shoot for a takedown first,” she said. “Everybody knows my game is from the bottom, I’m very comfortable doing guard, that’s what I love doing, so, if she comes into my guard, that’s exactly what I want. She will choose to take me down because her standup isn’t great, so she will shoot for a takedown to avoid standing.”
Viana scored both of her octagon victories via first-round submission, and hasn’t knocked out an opponent since November 2015, when she stopped Amanda Ribas to win the Jungle Fight belt. This time, however, she foresees a stoppage on the feet.
“I’ve imagined myself winning many different ways,” Viana said. “I always try to mentalize the fight and imagine different things, putting myself in easy and difficult situations, and I think [I will win] by knockout. Everybody kind of expects a submission. I haven’t stopped working on my ground game, but I’ve been sharpening my stand-up since my previous camp.”
Viana plans on fighting at least three times in 2021, with the goal of closing the year among the 15 best strawweights in the UFC.
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