After a 5-1 run on the regional circuit that included an LFA title win over Sam Hughes, Demopoulos earned a chance to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series, dropping a close decision to Cory McKenna before returning to LFA and suffering a majority decision loss to Godinez.
She bounced back by re-claiming the belt when Godinez was called up to the UFC, than followed her to the biggest stage in the sport, dropping a short-notice assignment up a division against veteran JJ Aldrich. Since returning to the 115-pound weight class, however, Demopoulos has embarked on a quality run of success heading into Saturday’s clash with resurgent Polish standout Karolina Kowalkiewicz.
“Lil Monster” kicked off her run of success with a first-round armbar win over Silvana Gomez Juarez, eating a massive right hand before scrambling to clamp onto the submission before the midway point of the round. She followed that up with a hard-fought win over Jinh Yu Frey, and closed out 2022 by edging out Maria Oliveira on the scorecards to move to 9-4 overall.
Fight Pass Invitational Returns To Vegas June 29
Now doing her training camps with the crew at Factory X in Denver, Demopoulos gets the biggest opportunity of her UFC run this weekend, squaring off with Kowalkiewicz.
The former title challenger from Lodz got back into the win column last June with a unanimous decision win over Felice Herrig, snapping a five-fight losing streak. She followed that up by out-hustling Gomez Juarez at UFC 281 in November, giving Kowalkiewicz her first winning streak since posting back-to-back victories over Jodie Esquibel and Herrig.
Demopoulos has continued to work tirelessly on developing her striking, showing some pop along the way. Much like Godinez’ fight with Ducote, it’s going to be curious to see how things play out here, as Kowalkiewicz is a quality grappler in her own right and the more technical striker of the two.
But the streaking 34-year-old is brimming with confidence, and if she can collect a fourth consecutive victory by toppling Kowalkiewicz, it’ll be time for Demopoulos to face someone with a number next to their name.
