Jaqueline Amorim defeated all her MMA competitors quickly as she got ready for her UFC 287 debut on Saturday in Miami. She even joked about wanting to finish off Sam Hughes in less than five minutes so that her dad doesn’t get too stressed out.
At age 5, Amorim began practicing jiu-jitsu in Manaus, Brazil because her dad was a big fan of this martial art and it became quickly apparent that Amorim loved it just as much. During that same time, mixed martial arts (MMA) wasn’t very popular yet so Amorim started to focus full-time on grappling. She also used to watch MMA events with her father called PRIDE.
Amorim said on Trocação Franca podcast that he decided to stay in jiu-jitsu and win things like World Championships, Pan-American titles and build his name. He was already successful in the grappling circuit with multiple IBJJF World Championship wins as a purple-and brown belt in gi and no-gi before he thought it was time to make the jump into women’s MMA, which is established everywhere.
Amorim said that he waited for the perfect moment to start MMA and his father had always been a supporter. His dad is very proud of him now that he has signed with UFC and it is like a dream come true for both of them. He’s also happy to be attending Amorim’s debut.
Amorim has a perfect record in MMA of 6 wins with all the fights ending in the first round. On two occasions, he’s even managed to end the fight before it could reach even one minute! However, Hughes has only suffered defeat due to tapping out because of a triangle choke when competing for a championship title at LFA. Now Amorim is hoping to end their upcoming fight quickly as well.
I always joke with my dad that I need to finish my fights early in the first round because he’ll get nervous if it goes on for too long. But I tell him, “Don’t worry, I’m ready for whatever happens”. My goal when I fight is to apply all my learned jiu-jitsu moves and try to win as soon as possible.
Amorim is new in MMA compared to Hughes, who has had twice as many matches and six fights in the UFC. Even with this difference, Amorim believes participating for so long in grappling contests can give her an advantage.
Amorim said that all the experience he gained from jiu-jitsu has been beneficial. Even though they are two different sports, when Amorim started MMA, he was just a jiu-jitsu fighter so he joined American Top Team to get better in MMA – which gave him an advantage over other competitors. Amorim considers himself a great grappler and believes that other contemporaries may not have this level of expertise but still wants to grow more as an MMA fighter.
I know that Hughes is a strong athlete with more experience in fighting than me, said Amorim. But I think her being smart will not help her against someone like me who’s a grappler. It won’t be an easy fight for me either but it’s what I want – to go in and finish the fight. Although I respect Hughes, I’m ready to take on this challenge.
