Las Vegas — The key to Jacqueline Cavalcanti’s recent success, the bantamweight said following a decision win over Julia Avila at UFC Vegas 102, “is the training, is the hard work.”
That hard work has seen the former LFA champion earn seven straight victories, with four coming inside the UFC octagon since she joined the promotion in 2023. That’s been enough to land Cavalvanti (9-1), who looked sharp on the feet and sent Avila into retirement on Saturday, the #13 spot in the UFC women’s bantamweight division.
Cavalcanti told media outlets including Cageside Press on Saturday that she was happy with her striking, but still looking to improve.
“I’m happy. I can do more,” she stated. “The next fight I come, I can come back better.”
She even has a list of names she’d like to come back against, including a former champion in her weight class.
“I told my division, ‘girls, let’s go fight.’ Let’s go put more fights in the cage, so the division is shaken a little bit more. I want to fight Miesha Tate or Yana [Santos] or Karol Rosa. Karol Rosa is a very good girl, but she stays in my division. I want fights, I have to fight everybody.”
“Cupcake” Tate hasn’t competed since a December 2023 victory, also over Julia Avila. Yet she sits in the #11 spot in the weight class, along with Santos at #10 and Rosa in the #9 slot. Regardless, it’s a top 10 ranking that Jacqueline Cavalcanti is gunning for.
“Let’s go, yeah. I want this. I work for this,” she said on that front.
Born in Brazil but residing in Portugal for well over a decade, Cavalcanti plans to head back to the South American nation following the win to visit family. After that, it’ll be back to the gym to help make that top 10 ranking a reality.
Watch the full UFC Vegas 102 post-fight appearance by Jacqueline Cavalcanti above.
