Mayra Bueno Silva is back to the bantamweight division after a short trip to flyweight earlier this year, when she lost to Jasmine Jasudavicius, and that was a brutal week all around in Saudi Arabia.
Silva, who attempts to snap a four-fight winless skid against Jacqueline Cavalcanti on Saturday at UFC Vegas 111, absolutely loves competing against “extremely talented” 125-pounders in the UFC, but it’s just too hard for her body.
“It’s very really, really hard for me,” Silva told MMA Fighting. “The weight cut is brutal for me. Flavio [Alvaro], Gloria [de Paula], Pablo [Sucupira] and I spent 16 hours cutting weight. Sixteen very painful hours. It was really rough to make the weight, but I said, ‘I’m going to make weight because I committed to it.’ I gave everything I had to hit that number. It’s a very painful process for me to get to 125, even though I really enjoy fighting in this division.”
Silva hit the 126-pound mark the morning before facing Jasudavicius in Riyadh, but had to use remarkably inventive tricks in order to get her weight down after her body stopped sweating when she reached 132 pounds.
“Not a single drop of sweat would come out,” Silva said. “I couldn’t sweat, couldn’t make it happen. I had no energy left. I couldn’t go to the sauna because women can’t enter the same sauna as men in Saudi Arabia, and the hotel only had sauna for men. The bathtub alone wasn’t enough anymore, training wasn’t enough, and I didn’t have a sauna. Nothing I did could make me sweat, so we had no options left.
“Then Flavio and Pablo had the brilliant idea to dress me up like a man and sneak me into the sauna [laughs]. That’s when the weight finally started to drop again, and we managed to make weight.”
“Sheetara” made weight and went on to lose a unanimous decision the following day, and believes it ultimately took a toll on her body and affected her performance.
“That’s not something I really like to talk about,” Silva said. “I’d rather just say Jasmine beat ‘Sheetara.’ But I believe it did, yes. I did lose, but it definitely had an influence.”
With three losses in a row now — plus the Holly Holm victory that was later overturned to a no-contest due to ritalinic acid use — Silva feels pressured to get back on track.
“I feel like I’m back on the Contender Series again,” Silva said. “It’s either win or lose. I really like that position. It doesn’t bother me at all. I’m very happy with everything I produced in this camp, very happy with what my coaches taught me.”
“Those losses don’t weigh on me at all,” she continued. “That’s in the past. I’m really happy and satisfied with everything I’ve done. I always say bad things happen to good people, and I’m ready to bounce back and show my best. I’m sure this will be my best performance inside the UFC.”
Once again working with jiu-jitsu coach Thiago Gaia, and now a black belt in the art, Silva feels extra motivated to get the finish at the UFC APEX. Cavalcanti is 4-0 in the promotion with four decisions, and was never finished as a professional MMA fighter, but “Sheetara” sees a path to a stoppage.
“I’ve never shown 100% of ‘Sheetara’ inside the UFC,” Silva said. “Of course I’ve already fought for the belt, had a memorable performance against Holly [Holm], and one against Lina Lansberg, and earned several performance bonuses, but no one has ever really seen ‘Sheetara’. I’ve never been able to show ‘Sheetara’ in the UFC, and now I’m ready to do that.
“I have many submissions in the UFC, but I haven’t scored a knockout yet. Earning my black belt doesn’t mean I’ll try to show more submissions — quite the opposite. My jiu-jitsu will open paths for knockouts, just like my striking opens paths for submissions.
“Jaqueline is an excellent striker, but she’s going to run into a truck,” she added. “In what she’s good at, I’m excellent. I see a very tough night for Jaqueline, a really difficult one, and I don’t see her beating me in any area. Not to take anything away from her, she’s coming off a lot of great wins, but I believe I’m superior in everything, and I’ll prove that. I believe this will be my first knockout in the UFC.”
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