Natalia Silva is envisioning a title shot in the near future, after her unbeaten streak in the UFC continued at UFC Vegas 85.
The Brazilian picked up another unanimous decision win, against Viviane Araujo, extending her run to 11 consecutive victories, having to go back to 2017 to find her last loss.
After dropping the first round, Silva built comfortably into the contest and took the second and third round on all three judges scorecards. Discussing the bout with the media post-fight, Silva admitted that her and her team were well aware of the problems Araujo could pose and the importance to stick to their game plan in order to nullify any of her opponents advancements.
“The plan was to do what I do because I knew she was a great grappler and I know in the beginning of the fight, the round, she could grapple me. I trained for this because coaches knew what she would do, she grappled me as that is what she does the best.
“My coach Carlos to me ‘Natalia, the first round is the most important as she will want to grapple you so you need to be very, very focused in the fight’ and I done that. When she grabbed me, I was very relaxed because I knew she was using a lot of her strength and I stayed relax because I know she would tire.”
Moving forward, Silva has her sights firmly set on one thing and one thing only, becoming the UFC Flyweight Champion. She isn’t bothered about who her next opponent is as she believes enough in her skillset that it doesn’t matter who she faces, she will become champion. She said:
“I don’t know about the next opponent. I am here to be the champion and I work for this. We see I am here to fight so whoever the UFC give me, I will fight and win because I have focus in my life. I want to be the champion and I work all day for it and I will be the champion soon, you can mark my words.
“In my mind, I am ready to be the champion. I don’t know who the UFC will give me but any fight they give me I will win and I will arrive at the belt because I am here to be the champion. I don’t know the name (of my next opponent) but I don’t care because I am here to be the champion.”
The women’s Flyweight division is in a strong place at the moment and elsewhere on Saturday night’s card, a potential new contender appeared, with Molly McCann earning an impressive first round submission win.
