Mayra Bueno Silva‘s title hopes are far from over.
Amanda Nunes, widely considered to be considered the greatest female fighter of all time, left the door wide open in the women’s bantamweight division with her retirement from the sport in May 2023. Starting off 2024, we’d see a vacant title fight between Raquel Pennington and Bueno Silva try to close the gap and crown another champion, eight years after one was found in Nunes.
Bueno Silva Reflects On UFC 297 Loss To Pennington, To Turn It All Around At UFC 303
It had looked like Nunes’ bantamweight belt would stay in Brazil with Bueno Silva absolutely dominating Pennington with grappling in the opening round, however Bueno Silva couldn’t keep that championship pace for long – losing a unanimous decision to Pennington after five rather lackluster rounds of action.
“Unfortunately, I have a problem in second round,” Bueno Silva told Middle Easy. “Everybody watch my first round, I dominate her, but in the second round, I had a problem… I explode my eardrum, and then I lose my balance and I can’t fight. My game plan [gone to waste]. But it’s okay, I will be back. And then I believe when I win, I’m back to the title shot.”
Fighting Macy Chiasson Atop McGregor Card
Going more than a year without a win (her submission over Holly Holm was overturned to no contest), Bueno Silva believes she’ll get back on track in her next fight at UFC 303, where she battles “The Ultimate Fighter” season 28 winner Macy Chiasson on June 29th. The ranked contender matchup is listed on the main card of Conor McGregor’s pay-per-view return vs. Michael Chandler.
“I’m very excited. Conor McGregor is the best in the game, and then for me is the very great opportunity.
“Honestly, I’m better than her in everything, but she’s dangerous,” Bueno Silva said of next opponent Chiasson. “But, I’m better than everything than her in everything… Everybody knows my game plan. I want a submission to finish the fight. But my strikes [are] very good, too. I know I will win. I will hurt her and win this fight.”
Who’s Got Next At Women’s 135?
You can almost hear the sound of crickets at the top of the women’s bantamweight division with champion Raquel Pennington on the sidelines after her title win against Bueno Silva. Pennington has teased a title defense with longtime rival and ex-champ Julianna Pena, but the two ‘TUF’ castmates have yet to get a date lined up for later this year.
Kayla Harrison, a wearer of gold in the Olympics and the PFL, is also in the running at women’s 135, having submitted Holly Holm at UFC 300. Bueno Silva says her American Top Team teammate is a “problem in this division” seeing as how she is “very dangerous” everywhere.
“I believe Julianna Pena, but Kayla is a great fight, too,” Bueno Silva said, when asked who’s the next title challenger at women’s bantamweight. “I believe now it’s Raquel and Julianna… Juliana is only talking. Juliana don’t fight nothing. I think Raquel win.”
Bueno Silva’s ‘Dream Fight’
Though, if she to choose who she’d rather fight for the title, for Bueno Silva, it would have to be Pena as the two have had a lot of banter back-and-forth with since Amanda Nunes retired.
“This is my fight. This is my dream because I want to hurt her too much,” Bueno Silva said of a potential fight with Julianna Pena.
Watch Mayra Bueno Silva’s full pre-fight interview below with Middle Easy’s James Lynch:
