Poliana Botelho Says She Is Fighting For Her Job At UFC Vegas 56

Las Vegas, NV — Poliana Botelho knows her fight on Saturday is significant, as she could be fighting for her job.

Botelho (8-4) returns from a 13-month layoff at UFC Vegas 56. While she started her UFC career winning two straight, she is currently on a two-fight skid. A third loss in a row could end her time in the UFC, and she knows it.

“Yeah, [I’m fighting for my job], and I’m going to fight my heart out. And my heart is going to be at the edge of my punches,” Botelho told Cageside Press during her UFC Vegas 56 media day interview.

The 33-year-old Brazilian made some changes in this fight camp, which included changing her entire coaching staff. She still trains at the famous Nova União in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, just with different coaches.

“As well as far as the physical side is concerned, there was a change to my boxing coach, a change to my grappling coach, and a change from my Muay Thai as well,” Botelho said. “I do feel that I became more of an intelligent fighter, someone that’s smarter during the fight that knows when to let it loose and when to pull it back. And that’s part of this new Poliana, someone that’s mentally clear to be in this fight.”

On top of changing three coaches, she sought help from a mental coach. The mental coach helped with her mindset for this upcoming fight but also helped with trauma from her childhood that she hasn’t dealt with.

“One of the things that I did was also get a mental coach to actually get somebody to work the psychological science, so that’s a change that happened,” Botelho said. “There were things that they tapped into that go back to childhood. They were able to change, so I understand that there are some vices out there that we need to get over.”

“After that work, I was even actually [able] to get my bearings inside the octagon things changed for me there. You know, visualizing the game and as you can see, it’s something that made me really confident for the fight.”

Poliana Botelho welcomes Karine Silva to the UFC this weekend. Watch the rest of her UFC Vegas 56 media day interview above. More coverage of the event, which takes place Saturday, June 4, 2022 at the Apex in Las Vegas, can be found below.