Lemos Seeks ‘Blood And War’ With Title Shot In Sight

“If the fans want a show, I’m gonna be the person to show them the show. If they want to see blood, if they want to see punches, I’m going to show them that. I’m going to show them a war.”

Amanda Lemos has taken no prisoners as she’s torn through the ranks of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) 115-pound Strawweight ranks. With five consecutive wins, the Brazilian’s upcoming hurdle will be her tallest yet — figuratively speaking.

UFC Vegas 52 on Apr. 23, 2022, will act as Lemos’ first career main event when she’s tasked with the 5-foot-2 powerhouse, former divisional champion, Jessica Andrade.

“To be honest, I didn’t imagine it was going to be a main event until I saw the fight was against Andrade,” Lemos told MMAMania.com. “I imagined maybe a co-main event or something like that because I’m really in the moment, I was coming off of a main card, she’s been having lots of good fights, she’s highly ranked, so I knew that it was going to be a high position but I didn’t expect it to be a main event.

“If I put on a show against Jessica Andrade, I think it’s very possible that the title comes next and that’s the goal.”

While the fight is Andrade’s return to 115-pounds after a brief stint up at Flyweight (125-pounds), a win over someone of “Bate Estaca’s” caliber will always hold plenty of weight. Tack that onto a five-fight winning streak and Lemos will have as good of a case for a title shot as anyone in the division.

“It’s definitely a great opportunity and I was searching for a fight like this for a while,” Lemos said. “She’s a famous, famous fighter, a former champ a really tough fighter. I was really glad to get this opportunity to be able to show the audience how good I am and how far I’ve come.”

“I’ve been working a lot on my own mistakes. Last fight I committed a few of them so I’ve been watching a lot of my previous fights, watching a bit of my opponent. And that’s what we’re working on. There are a few surprises that I have in store for the next fight but I’m going to keep that to myself.”

In her last time out, Lemos fought to a closely contested split decision nod vs. Angela Hill after three of four victories ended via stoppage (two TKOs, one submission).

Despite the competitive nature of the bout, the 11-1-1 Belem, Brazil native continued her trend of scoring knockdowns in the division and ultimately did enough in the judges’ eyes against “Overkill.”

“Each fight that passes by I see what works out, what doesn’t, what I need to do to keep on going, motivating me,” Lemos said. “Last fight, we made some mistakes and we’re setting these mistakes right right now and I know that they’re not gonna happen for my next fight with Jessica Andrade.

“She thinks she won, I think I won, and the judges think I won. So there’s not really anything to discuss about this. Except that the judges have decided. I won the fight.”

The 34-year-old Lemos was introduced to combat sports through boxing but her passion remained in the soccer world until a friend managed to persuade her to try mixed martial arts (MMA). In July 2014, she went pro as a 135-pound Bantamweight.

Dominating the regional scene en route to a Jungle Fights title and 6-0-1 record, Lemos would get the call up to the UFC. Standing across from Lemos was a seasoned competitor in Leslie Smith who at the time was fresh off spoiling the debut of future contender, Irene Aldana.

“Definitely. If I had the opportunity at the time to enter at Strawweight [sooner], I would have accepted that without a doubt. But that wasn’t an opportunity given to me,” Lemos shared.

“At the time, after I fought at Bantamweight, my coaches came up to me and we studied a few possibilities. They suggested; ‘Why don’t you go to Flyweight? Because you’ve never hit weight at Strawweight.’ And I told them at the beginning, ‘No, I want to hit Strawweight.’ They were kind of reluctant. They were like are you sure you want to do this? I said I want to be light, I want to be quick, I will be able to make it without a doubt. And it was the right choice because everything’s been working out since then.”

Hindsight being the most powerful of all, Lemos was undeniably right as she’s been perfect at her new fighting home since making the drop two years after her Smith defeat in 2017.

If that loss never happened, who knows what twists and turns the story would have taken. Along with her overall success, Lemos enjoys the fact that she’s been able to become known as a consistently exciting fighter, and she wants to give the fans a show each and every time out.

To predict UFC Vegas 52’s in-cage forecast; expect blood and war.

“I learned so much from that fight with Leslie Smith,” Lemos said. “When I got the fight, I was aware of what I was going into. I was without training for four months, so I knew it was coming. But I wanted to be a part of the event. I knew that I was going to do my best with what I was able to do and that’s when I became a true MMA fighter because until then, I never had the possibility to train full time. I trained once a day if I had the opportunity and I worked to be able to get money. So when I had the opportunity to work for an event like UFC, I stopped having a side job and I was able to focus and dedicate myself full time to training and fighting.

“I take my work extremely seriously, if the fans want a show, I’m gonna be the person to show them the show. If they want to see blood, if they want to see punches, I’m going to show them that. I’m going to show them a war.”