Bia Mesquita has just begun her UFC career, but she’s already dreaming of a fight with a legend.
The all-world Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion made a successful octagon debut at UFC Rio on Saturday, showing off her elite grappling as she ran through Irina Alekseeva en route to a second-round rear-naked choke submission. It was as good a debut as could be expected for the 34-year-old bantamweight, who could be on the fast track to title contention if she strings together a few more dominant performances.
At the evening’s post-fight press conference, MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz reminded Mesquita of a challenge she made to Rousey back in 2014, and the grappling ace laughed at the reminder… especially after making easy work of Alekseeva, who goes by the nickname “Russian Ronda.”
“What a crazy coincidence, huh?” Mesquita said. “I don’t know who told [Alekseeva] she’s the Russian Ronda Rousey, but if she says so. It’s what she believes. But I’ve proven that my takedowns are on point, and I’m a very big fan of Ronda, too. Ronda Rousey, she made history in MMA and she opened a lot of doors for all the women that are coming out, as well as me.
“I respect a lot all her history and everything she did to [help] women’s MMA become what it is today. So I really hope she comes back, everybody enjoys her fighting a lot, and I think that would be amazing. The armbar battle, even though I haven’t got my armbars yet, but who knows, maybe fighting her it’s going to come. I really respect her, I’m a big fan of everything she did, and I’m just happy if she’s coming back, it’s going to be amazing for the MMA world and especially for the women.”
Rousey last competed for the UFC in 2016 and went on to a successful pro wrestling career with WWE before stepping back from the spotlight in 2023. However, she has recently teased the possibility of a comeback and a glance at her social media certainly makes it seem as if she is getting back into fighting shape.
Mesquita is 6-0 in her MMA career so far, with four of her wins coming by submission (all by way of rear-naked choke). She still has plenty of work to do to earn a title shot, but with current 135-pound champion Kayla Harrison expected to face a returning Amanda Nunes sometime in 2026, the contender line is on hold and that gives Mesquita plenty of time to navigate it.
“I know very well that I’m just starting and I’m going to go step by step,” Mesquita said. “Not calling names right now, I just want to fight as soon as possible. I feel great. If there was another fight tonight, I could do it. So as soon as I can, I want to get back in the cage, be back to putting my fire on, put back my show, and that’s it. Me, Dana [White], I’m ready. Soon as you call me, I’m going to say yes. No matter where, no matter what time of day, I’m ready to go.”
In her win over Alekseeva, Mesquita had the chance to show off some of her striking, and she sounded glad that the fight at least went over the five-minute mark. Even on the ground, much of her offense was comprised of strikes from top position and it wasn’t until just before the middle of Round 2 that Mesquita sunk in the fight-ending choke.
So was she disappointed she couldn’t score a ground-and-pound knockout?
“No, I’m happy with my submission,” Mesquita said. “My clean jiu-jitsu, the great jiu-jitsu that I could show the people that I bring out. Also, I train in the best MMA gym in the world American Top Team, and I could prove in the first round that with my ground-and-pound that I’m improving a lot.
“Even on my standing, I felt very confident, I don’t think I got [hit by] any punch or anything. I proved that I came to be a complete fighter, but of course, submission, I’m always going to look for that.”
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