via Imago
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 13: (L-R) Polyana Viana of Brazil kicks Mallory Martin in their strawweight fight during the UFC 258 event at UFC APEX on February 13, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
via Imago
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 13: (L-R) Polyana Viana of Brazil kicks Mallory Martin in their strawweight fight during the UFC 258 event at UFC APEX on February 13, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Polyana Viana just had a big win on the prelims of UFC 258 as she registered the first finish on the night. There have been some intense battles on the undercard. Chris Gutierrez and Gabe Green have emerged victorious already, and Belal Muhammad and Dhiego Lima are currently scrapping in a bout that looks to be going Belal’s way.
However, Polyana Viana has made the biggest statement so far. She got Mallory Martin to tap out to a vicious armbar in the first round of their strawweight fight. She has now won two straight after falling to a three-fight slide in 2018-2019. While fighting was a sore spot, Viana was making a massive impact in her home country and spoke about it to Joe Rogan after her win.
"That was two years ago, everybody still remembers. I'm really happy because that inspired a lot of women to start doing self-defence classes."@Polyana_VianaDF tells Joe Rogan what it was like to become famous after beating up a mugger in Brazil 👏#UFC258 pic.twitter.com/QsEtAsR2ZU
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) February 14, 2021
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Via a translator, she said, “That was two years ago and everyone still remembers. I’m really happy because I inspired a lot of women to start taking self-defense classes.”
In January 2019, a mugger tried to rob Polyana outside her apartment with a fake gun. However, she used her MMA skills to subdue and beat up the robber until the police arrived. The video went viral in Brazil, and Polyana has revealed the full extent of the impact that video had.
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Polyana Viana makes a statement
The road for Polyana till now had been quite rocky. She was 2-3 in her 5 UFC fights, having just broken a three-fight losing streak in August 2020. That fight also ended with an early armbar that clocked in under 2 minutes. This win over Mallory Martin took just over 3 minutes to attain for Viana.
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The Women’s strawweight division is a hard one to book due to a genuine disparity of talent between top fighters and the rest of the division. The title for this division hasn’t been defended since February 2020, but champion Zhang Weili is assumed to be returning in April for a title defense against Rose Namajunas.
Viana could be making a push for the rankings now with these two impressive first-round finishes. Perhaps she could match up with countrywoman Livinha Souza next. It will be interesting to see how the UFC books Polyana after this streak, as the risk of her being thrown too far in the deep end is also still there.
