UFC veteran Poliana Botelho battling breast cancer

Poliana Botelho was released from the UFC in 2022. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Women’s flyweight Poliana Botelho is taking a positive approach to the bad news. Former UFC women’s flyweight Poliana Botelho has receiv…


Poliana Botelho was released from the UFC in 2022.
Poliana Botelho was released from the UFC in 2022. | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Women’s flyweight Poliana Botelho is taking a positive approach to the bad news.

Former UFC women’s flyweight Poliana Botelho has received some difficult news recently. Having been picked up by Invicta FC after her UFC release, the Brazilian only had one fight under the new promotion before discovering she had breast cancer.

Last Friday, Botelho shared the news with her fans on her official Instagram account and was received well wishes from many followers, including fellow athletes such as Amanda Nunes, Matheus Nicolau and Felice Herrig, among others. In the post, Botelho thanked her followers for the support and shared some details of what the treatment has been like so far.

“I’m here to tell you I’m all right and to thank you all for the messages. I had surgery to remove the nodule and now I’m resting at home. Thank you for the positive energy. This fight is already mine. Ours.”

Botelho’s (9-5) UFC career started in October 2017 and lasted seven fights. During her almost five-year stint, the 34-year-old scored wins over Pearl Gonzalez, Syuri Kondo and Lauren Mueller. Meanwhile, Poliana lost to Cynthia Calvillo, Gillian Robertson, Luana Carolina and Karine Silva. In her Invicta debut, back in September 2022, the Brazilian scored a unanimous decision win over Helen Peralta.