For her part, that’s fine with Vieira. She reflects humbly on the loss and the distraction of hearing her name mentioned among the top contenders.
“I believe my first defeat happened because I was thinking too much about what would happen afterwards, about a title fight, and I forgot I had to get through Irene to get to the belt. So now I’m focused on Yana Kunitskaya. I like to think that she has the belt. If I don’t get past her, there is no next step. After I win, we will think about the next step.”
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Her first step back in the right direction was a domination of Sijara Eubanks at last year’s UFC 253 on Fight Island. The relief was evident after her victory, and for the Brazilian, it was more than just a fight.
“I felt like the weight of the world was taken off my back. A number of things happened before the fight. So many bouts got cancelled, and my main coach, Dedé (Pederneiras), was not able to be there with me. When my opponent changed, I felt like Dedé would be able to tell me what I had to do to win if he was there. I didn’t just fight Sijara on that night, I fought against many problems. So that win was very important to me. I was extremely nervous, even more so than how I felt in my UFC debut.”
