Luana Pinheiro might be one of the lightest strawweights on the UFC roster as she struggles to stay heavy enough to compete in the 115-pound class.
Pinheiro faces Gillian Robertson at this weekend’s UFC Vegas 100 in Las Vegas, her seventh trip to the octagon as a strawweight — including the sole appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series —, and celebrated the possibility of having the 105-pound division in the UFC in the future. White has mentioned the company “cultivating talent” with lighter talent in South America and Asia.
“I never go over 121 pounds, so [atomweight] would be great,” Pinheiro said in an interview with MMA Fighting. The Brazilian only started cutting weight cut two days before the official UFC Vegas 100 weigh-ins, a smooth and harmful process. “I eat one pound of food every day for lunch, and another pound for dinner. And three açaí bowls a day with coconut water, peanut and coconut water. I just can’t eat more than that, you know?
“My doctor says my metabolism is as fast as a Ferrari. I even did some blood tests at the UFC P.I. once to check my thyroid and it came back normal. I weighed 118 pounds at the time, and no [strawweight] weighs that. It’s hard to stay at 121 pounds. Can I eat like a normal person? [laughs]. I eat 0.250 pounds of rice for lunch during fight week, and again on dinner, and [other fighters] stop eating that a month before the fight. I eat fighters hitting pads on fight week and almost dying, and I don’t suffer that much.”
Pinheiro said the heaviest opponent she’s faced so far in the UFC was Amanda Ribas, who has also competed at flyweight inside the octagon — and once gained a whooping 26 pounds between weigh-ins and fight night. Pinheiro didn’t feel power and strength were an issue against Ribas or any other, but moving down to atomweight could speed her rise towards a UFC belt.
“The girts are fast in this division,” Pinheiro said. “There are a lot of 115 girls that are shorter than me, but I don’t know if they are light. Tecia Torres is small, for example, but can she make 105? I think 105 would be a great addition to the UFC. Some 115 girls weigh 139 pounds, and I was never that heavy in my entire life. I would have to suffer a little bit [to make 105] because I’ve never had to do a two-month diet in MMA before. I was at a churrascaria a week before the fight, so that’s not a problem for me right now.”
Robertson, her opponent Saturday, holds the record for most submission wins amongst women in the UFC, so any weight advantage in the grappling department could play a factor during exchanges on the ground. Yet, the Brazilian judoka said “I believe I can be faster than her for being lighter.”
“Usually, my opponents don’t try to take me down, they tend to trade and strike more, but that’s what she does best,” Pinheiro said. “She has a lot of submissions, that’s her thing, but you have to take me down to grapple with me. I’ve trained takedown defense and every escape there is. I think it’s a good match-up. She has been submitted before, and I believe I have all the tools to beat her by knockout — she doesn’t like to get hit that much — and in scrambles, being lighter and faster. I believe I can submit her, too.”
