Amanda Lemos improved her record to 10-1-1 this weekend at UFC Vegas 31 with a 35-second KO of Montserrat Ruiz. That win also extended her UFC win streak to four contests.
Three of her four UFC wins came via stoppage, so it’s no surprise that Amandinha came into her fight with Ruiz hoping to not hear the final bell.
“This was my plan: Get a knockout or get a submission in the first round,” she said in her post-fight press conference (ht MMA Junkie). “We trained this specific move right before the fight during warm-up. We knew she would come at me with everything she’s got, so we worked on this move and it worked.”
When asked who she wants to face next, the Brazilian said she had two fighters in mind.
“I don’t know why two top-five opponents refused to face me, but I’m here. I’m waiting. I want to fight, no matter who my opponent is. If they didn’t want to face me now, there will be a time when they won’t be able to run away from me.
“I want to face Tecia Torres or Michelle Waterson. Any of these two, I’m ready. My goal is to continue getting knockouts and submissions and be the champion. This is my goal. Sooner or later, I’m going to be the champion.”
Waterson is currently ranked 9th in the strawweight rankings. Torres is just behind her at 10th. Lemos is currently ranked 14th, sandwiched between Felice Herrig and Virna Jandiroba.
Lemos is a former Jungle Fight bantamweight champion. She signed for the UFC in 2017 to fight Leslie Smith at UFC Fight Night: Nelson vs. Ponzinibbio, acting as a late replacement for Lina Landsberg.
The current strawweight lost to Smith, who now fights in Bellator’s featherweight division, by TKO due to brutal standing elbows. Lemos took a two year hiatus from competition and returned, at 115 lbs, to face Miranda Granger at UFC on ESPN: Edgar vs. Korean Zombie in 2019. She won that bout by submission.
Since then she has beaten Mizuki Inoue by unanimous decision and former Invicta strawweight champion Livia Renato Souza by TKO.
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