Amanda
Lemos stands by the principle, “Fall down seven times, stand up
eight.” Just like the strongest steel is forged in the hottest
fire, the
Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight contender has taken
every career setback as a chance to reorient herself in the right
direction. While she hoped that she would ride the wave of good
fortune with a stint in the UFC, her debut in the organization was
marred by a positive test for a banned substance which led to her
being suspended for two years from competition.
It felt like she was back in the thick of adversity even after
making it into the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization.
Lemos was back to the daily grind. She took a job as a motorcycle
taxi driver in Belem, Brazil. During that time, she was involved in
a serious accident, which resulted in a spinal fracture that
required surgery in 2018. She finally returned to the Octagon in
December 2019, and since then, has won seven of nine fights and
occupies the No. 3 spot in the UFC’s divisional rankings. With this
tale of resilience established, let’s take a look at some of the
rivalries that have shaped her into a championship-caliber
contender.
Lemos had a chip on her shoulder when she returned to action
following a two-year suspension to face
Miranda
Granger at
UFC Fight Night 165. She traveled to the other side of the
globe to Busan, South Korea in the quest to erase the blemish on
her career and announce her return with authority.
Following a back-and-forth scrap, Lemos was able to scramble and
latch onto Granger’s neck. She didn’t have the right fulcrum to
squeeze in the submission, but her power stood tall as she applied
significant pressure to score a technical submission victory at
3:43 of the very first round.
With four straight victories since her return to the UFC, which
included three first-round finishes, Lemos crossed paths with Hill
at
UFC Fight Night 199. History would suggest that an experienced
fighter like Hill would challenge and push Lemos to the limits, and
she did just that.
Lemos proved to be the aggressor in the fight, launching several
front kicks followed by some punches to get Hill backtracking.
Lemos tried to finish the fight on the mat, but Hill recovered, and
in a scramble, got into top position with a little over two minutes
remaining. The two rose and engaged in a fiery exchange before Hill
caught Lemos with a stinging overhand right. The pair went back and
forth for the rest of the round.
Hill turned up the pace realizing that Lemos’ output had fizzled
out. In the opening minute of round three, Lemos landed the patent
front kick again. Hill was unfazed as she kept pressing forward.
Hill soon took the dominant position in the closing moments of the
fight and against the fence, she kept leading the action, with a
spinning elbow dropping Lemos. The pair traded blows till the final
bell and Lemos walked away with a 30-27, 29-28, 28-29 split
decision victory.
Waterson-Gomez paid the price of a costly mistake in her co-main
event clash against Lemos at
UFC on ABC 3. The Brazilian wasn’t shrinking away from
accountability after she lost via first-round submission to
Jessica
Andrade in her first UFC main event appearance in April 2022.
Instead, she turned the setback into a comeback submitting
Waterson-Gomez in less than two rounds.
“The Karate Hottie” struggled from the onset against a bigger,
defiant Lemos. However, she managed to neutralize her offense with
a solid takedown inside the final 90 seconds, where she rode out
the majority of the round from the top position.
In the second round, Waterson-Gomez realized that the Octagon
canvas was where she wanted the fight to play out, but Lemos played
her cards right and was wise to her opponent’s game plan. She
quickly sunk in a guillotine choke and rolled over into mount,
forcing Waterson-Gomez to yield.
Ahead of their
UFC Fight Night 214 headliner clash, Rodriguez was calling for
a title shot with a victory. Lemos threw a wrench into Rodriguez’s
plans and staked her claim for a future shot at the UFC’s
strawweight belt with an impressive third-round stoppage
victory.
The first round played out with both fighters testing the waters
and collecting data on their opponent. As the fight progressed,
there was a palpable injection of pace and ferocity before Lemos
took Rodriguez to the canvas and pulled off a rear-naked choke
attempt. In the third round, Rodriguez, just as she seemed to be
finding her range, was caught flush with a huge counter right hand.
Lemos rushed forward with a flurry of heavy punches that landed
clean, forcing referee Jason Herzog to wave off the fight 54
seconds into the third round.