A title shot could be on the line for these women’s strawweight contenders.
An all-Brazilian matchup has been added to a loaded UFC 280 card.
Following a report from Globo’s Raphael Marinho, ESPN confirmed that No. 8 ranked Amanda Lemos and No. 3 ranked Marina Rodriguez will face off on October 22nd in Abu Dhabi
Lemos (12-2-1) is not even a week removed from her second-round guillotine choke finish of Michelle Waterson-Gomez at UFC Long Island. After her UFC debut loss up at bantamweight vs. Leslie Smith in 2017, Lemos went on to win five consecutive fights once she moved down to 115 lbs. That win streak was snapped by a rare standing arm-triangle choke finish from former champion Jessica Andrade, but she’s bounced back right away from that loss and is very much in title contention.
Rodriguez (16-1-2) is on a four-fight win streak since her lone career defeat, a split decision against current champion Carla Esparza. Her most recent fight was a split decision over China’s Yan Xiaonan at UFC 272 in March. She also has five-round decision victories over Mackenzie Dern and Michelle Waterson-Gomez, as well as a second-round TKO of Amanda Ribas.
UFC 280 features a championship doubleheader topped by a vacant lightweight title matchup between Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev. The co-main event sees men’s bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling put his belt on the line against former champion T.J. Dillashaw. Notable non-title bouts include Sean O’Malley vs. Petr Yan, Beneil Dariush vs. Mateusz Gamrot, and Belal Muhammad vs. Sean Brady.