Tainara Lisboa: UFC bantamweight division more interesting without 'untouchable' Amanda Nunes
10/13/2023 05:00 PM
The UFC has yet to crown new women's bantamweight and featherweight champions since the retirement of two-division queen Amanda Nunes in June, and Tainara Lisboa sees a quicker path to the top now that "The Lioness" is gone.
Lisboa returns to the octagon Saturday night to face Ravena Oliveira at UFC Vegas 81. She's looking to go 2-0 in the company following her second-round submission win over Jessica-Rose Clark in May, and she expects things to get interesting in the 135-pound division.
"I see the bantamweight division stronger now," Lisboa told MMA Fighting. "Things will change a lot now. Fans love this dynamic, 'Who will win the belt?' or 'Will she keep it for a long time?' Amanda Nunes was untouchable, a very solid and well-rounded athlete, so everybody sees greater chances with the belt now vacant and someone else having to take that place."
Lisboa acknowledged that "the road is still long for me, I'm still on the first steps of this ladder," but that travel could be "quicker" now that Nunes is not at the top. Lisboa foresees the belt "returning to Brazil soon" in the hands of Mayra Bueno Silva, Ketlen Vieira, Karol Rosa, or Norma Dumont, but it's unlikely that anyone reigns as dominantly as Nunes did.
"The belt will change hands more, we'll see a lot of new faces there as champions," Lisboa said, "and that makes the division more interesting because you won't watch a fight thinking like, 'Well, this person will definitely win.' It's more like, 'Who will win now? Who gets the belt?' My time will come, that's for sure, and I have no idea who will be standing there."
Lisboa was originally paired up against Darya Zheleznyakova for the Oct. 14 Fight Night card before Oliveira stepped in to make her promotional debut after going 7-1-1 on the Brazilian regional circuit. In fact, Lisboa admits she had no idea who Oliveira was before the UFC offered her as a replacement.
"When someone posted that she had signed with the UFC, I was like, 'Cool, another Brazilian in the UFC,' and even asked my team if they knew her, but nobody did," Lisboa said. "I was training jiu-jitsu late at night and my head coach called me saying that Darya was out and Ravina was going to replace her. I said, 'OK. Have you checked her out? If you're OK with this, so am I.'
"That's when we started doing our research. I obviously checked her out. I like to always watch something, but I don't like to study too much because it generates some adrenaline. I leave it up for my team and coaches to pass along everything I need to know and I'll follow their lead."
Lisboa sees similarities between Zheleznyakova and Oliveira, and said her strategy hasn't changed much for UFC Vegas 81.
"The fact they're both strikers helped so I didn't have to change strategies completely," she said. "The initial plan remains the same. The least you can expect from me inside the octagon is my best. I'll go in there to give everything I have. I don't stick to game plans and things like that. I was standing with Jessica but then choked her out in the third round in my debut. We have the plan A and a plan B in case that one doesn't work — and we also have plan C — but I will enter the cage looking for the victory."
