Mayra Bueno Silva gets brutally honest on her next fight.
A new woman’s bantamweight champion will be crowned at UFC 297, following Amanda Nunes’ retirement last year. Top ranked contenders Bueno Silva and Raquel Pennington are set to compete for the vacant title in the Canadian co-headliner.
Bueno Silva earned her title shot after submitting former champ Holly Holm in July. The result was later overturned to a no-contest, due to a positive drug test for ritalinic acid. The Brazilian claims it was medication for her attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Bueno Silva Knows It Will Be ‘Hard To Hurt’ Pennington
Moving on to greener pastures, Bueno Silva is solely focused on beating the brakes off former title challenger Pennington.
“Raquel is more tough than Julianna [Pena]. Julianna is easy money,” Bueno Silva told Middle Easy. “I think she’s tough. She has good boxing, but doesn’t have good jiu-jitsu or a good takedown. I think I’ll be better than her in everything, but she’s tough. It’s hard to hurt her.”
Prediction
‘Rocky’ has only been finished once in her 23-fight career, which was a TKO loss to Amanda Nunes in her first title fight in 2018. Stopping Pennington inside the distance might seem like a difficult task, but Bueno Silva likes her chances of doing so.
“I will knock her out, I believe this,” Bueno Silva continued. “I believe, 100%… She’s [not] on my level. I will dominate Raquel Pennington, I promise to give a big show.”
Bueno Silva: ‘This Fight On Paper Is No Good’
Heading into UFC 297, Bueno Silva doesn’t think there will be too much eyes on her much-criticized title fight with Pennington. Still though, the Brazilian wants to prove to herself she is the best bantamweight in the world.
“[On] paper, no is a good fight because nobody wants to watch this fight, I know,” Bueno Silva admitted. “This fight on paper is no good, but I promise to give a big show for everybody. Everybody goes home and think about, ‘hey, this girl Mayra Bueno Silva is the chosen one.’
“[Winning UFC gold means] everything. I work hard in my life for 10 years for this moment. For me is everything. I talk with God. Every day, I talk, hey, God. This is everything for me because not for money, nor for Fans, not for media, uh, but because I believe too much, I am the chosen one.”
‘Nobody Can Stop Me Because I Am The Chosen’
Bueno Silva explains when she first began seeing herself as ‘the chosen one’.
“This for me is everything, I believe,” Bueno Silva said. “I believe in God. I believe I am the chosen one. The first time I go into the gym training, I feel like the chosen one… got me blessed too much. Coming from the favela, and then MMA changed everything in my life and changed everything in my family. For this reason, I am the chosen one. I changed my life. I changed of a life for my family. Nobody can stop me because I am the chosen.
“When I take my belt, everything everything that I believe is real. It’s my dream, and then I believe it will come true.”
