Amanda Lemos may be days away from another main event bout scheduled for 25 minutes, but she does not intend on competing against Virna Jandiroba for that long.
Saturday at UFC on ESPN 60 (ESPN, ESPN+) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, former title challenger Lemos (14-3-1 MMA, 8-3 UFC) headlines opposite Jandiroba (20-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) in a top 10 strawweight matchup.
At this point, Lemos is used to the big stage of the UFC. Lemos enters her third UFC main event on the heels of a unanimous decision win over Mackenzie Dern at UFC 298 in February. That victory marked a return to the win column following a heartbreaking unanimous decision loss against Zhang Weili in her first shot at gold.
Whether it’s a preliminary bout, main event, or a title fight, nothing changes for Lemos.
“I approach every fight the same,” Lemos told MMA Junkie Radio through an interpreter. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the first, second fight on the card, if it’s a co-main or main event. I approach all of them the same. They’re all important to me. This is my life. This has been my life, this is how I make that bread. It doesn’t matter the status of the fight. I approach it with the same training level, always looking for the win. To me, it’s another fight in that sense.”
Lemos, 37, currently holds the No. 7 spot in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie women’s strawweight rankings, and Jandiroba is just one spot behind.
While this fight isn’t likely to be one that gets her right back into another shot at the title, a big win, especially a big stoppage, would certainly be a solid step in that direction. She will be looking for that early finish on Saturday against Jandiroba.
“I’m going to come out there just trying to finish the fight,” Lemos said. “Cautious, of course, anything may happen – but I’m going in right from the start to try to finish that fight.”
Check out the full pre-fight interview with Lemos in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 60.
