Gloria de Paula is confident that Cheyanne Buys will bring the best out of her.
De Paula (5-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) faces Buys (5-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 28 card, where both women will look to rebound from debut losses which they were primarily out-grappled in.
But now that she’s matched up with a fellow striker and Dana White’s Contender Series graduate, de Paula is expecting her skills to shine in an all-out standup war.
“Our paths in MMA are indeed similar,” de Paula told MMA Junkie. “I watched her UFC debut. I even told Mayra (Bueno Silva) that it was like watching my own debut. I could see that she wanted to fight, but her opponent chose to tie her up instead. It’s what I went through during my own bout. I felt that she’d be a great opponent for my next fight.
“Then, I was booked against her. I believe we’re going to put on a show. Everything is there for a fight of the night. She’s very aggressive and looks for the fight at all times. I do the same thing. The fans are going to love it. I’m confident I’ll have my arm raised at the end. I’ll look to knock her out during the entire fight.”
De Paula admits that the “UFC jitters” got the best of her when she dropped a unanimous decision to Jinh Yu Frey in March, but the Chute Boxe Diego Lima fighter plans on showing a much more refined version of herself against Buys.
“Unfortunately, my debut didn’t play out the way we wanted it,” de Paula said. “I think my nerves were a factor. Things happened differently. For example, I wasn’t able to sleep properly on fight week. And during the fight, I couldn’t hear my cornermen very well. Jinh Yu Frey deserves all credit for her win, as she was able to stick to her strategy. Losing is horrible. It’s very sad to go home on a loss. But I learned a lot from that fight. I was able to identify various areas in my game that needed correcting.”
After frustrating UFC debut, Gloria de Paula excited to face ‘aggressive’ Cheyanne Buys