The 34-year-old Belem, Brazil, native will take her first turn as an Ultimate Fighting Championship headliner when she dukes it out with Jessica Andrade in the UFC Fight Night 205 main event this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Having cracked the Top 10 at 115 pounds, Lemos enters the Octagon with the wind of a five-fight winning streak in her sails. She last competed at UFC Fight Night 199, where she eked out a split decision over former Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder Angela Hill on Dec. 18.
As Lemos approaches her pivotal five-round clash with Andrade, here are five things you might not know about her:
1. The late-bloomer label applies.
Lemos did not make her professional debut until she was 27 years old. She cut down Laura Falcao with punches 4:23 into their pairing under the Fusao de Artes Marciais banner on July 17, 2014.
2. She knows how to draw attention to herself.
“Amandinha” started her career with five consecutive first-round finishes. After the aforementioned encounter with Falcao, Lemos went on to rout Alenice Correa Costa, Debora Dias Nascimento, Carol Abdon and Carolina Cunha inside five minutes, becoming a person of interest on the regional scene in Brazil.
3. She has already tasted some fruits of her labor.
Lemos captured the Jungle Fight women’s bantamweight championship when she submitted Cunha with a guillotine choke 2:15 into their Jungle Fight 82 showdown in October 2015. She retained it on two subsequent occasions—she settled for a majority draw with Mayra Cantuaria Rodrigues at Jungle Fight 85, then leveled Rodrigues with a third-round knee strike in their Jungle Fight 88 rematch—before signing with the UFC.
4. Close-to-home preparation serves her well.
The surging strawweight contender operates out of the Marajo Brothers camp in Belem, Brazil. There, Lemos trains under UFC veterans Ildemar Alcantara and Iuri Alcantara. She has emerged as the crown jewel at a gym that includes two-time Dana White’s Contender Series winner Antonio Arroyo.
5. She left an imprint on the record book.
Lemos on July 17, 2021 authored the second-fastest finish in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight division when she punched out Montserrat Ruiz in 35 seconds at UFC on ESPN 26. Only Poliana Botelho has posted a quicker stoppage at 115 pounds, as she wiped Syuri Kondo with a body kick and follow-up punches just 33 seconds into their UFC Fight Night 129 clash on May 19, 2018.