Amanda Lemos’ run back towards the title begins this coming Saturday at UFC 298, when she takes on late replacement, Mackenzie Dern.
The 36-year-old challenged current strawweight champion, Zhang Weili, back at UFC 292 after stringing together back-to-back finishes.
Despite her unsuccessful title challenge, Lemos said at the UFC 298 media day that she learnt lessons from that loss, and the goal is still to win the UFC title.
“Obviously the fight against Weili was not what I expected but there were lessons that were learnt there and obviously the goal is to get back into the winning column and back onto the track to be a champion.”
Mackenzie Dern has seven wins by submission over her eight year professional career, and that is something Lemos is well aware of. She said that she has been training grappling hard throughout his fight camp, despite her speciality being her striking.
“My game is striking, and that’s what I like to do but I have been training a lot of grappling and a lot of jiu-jitsu as well and I do feel that I am prepared for any situation, but everyone knows I like to strike.”
With Lemos originally being scheduled to fight Tatiana Suarez, she admitted that if all things go her way on Saturday, she would like that fight re-booked, and would love to fight in Brazil in May.
“I think that after winning on Saturday the first thing we need to do is try to see if Tatiana is available for the fight and to reschedule the fight as soon as possible. If she’s not able to go, I would have to have the UFC tell me what they need from me.
“After beating Mackenzie I would love to have an opportunity to fight in Brazil.”
Watch the full UFC 298 media day appearance from Amanda Lemos above.
