Preview: UFC Fight Night 230 Prelims

Women’s Bantamweights

Tainara Lisboa (6-2, 1-0 UFC) vs. Ravena Oliveira (7-1-1, 0-0 UFC)

ODDS: Lisboa (-380), Oliveira (+300)

Two Brazilians look to carve out a niche in a wide-open women’s bantamweight division. Lisboa was fairly unproven heading into her UFC debut against Jessica-Rose Clark in May. Despite coming from a muay thai background—she even took on Valentina Shevchenko back in 2010—most of Lisboa’s recent footage saw her rely on her wrestling and grappling to stay ahead of some subpar competition on the Brazilian scene. Given those expectations, she acquitted herself well in a win over Clark, showing some impressive moments on the feet before eventually scoring a third-round submission. Some of Lisboa’s success might say more about Clark’s recent struggles as a fighter than anything else, but it is a solid enough baseline to suggest the “Thai Panther” can find some success in the UFC going forward, including in this fight against an Octagon newcomer in Oliveira. There is not much readily available film on Oliveira in recent years, but what little there is shows her to be a scrappy fighter. Like Lisboa heading into her UFC debut, it is unclear how well her skills will translate to facing a better level of competition. Oliveira does appear to absorb a lot of her opponents’ offense and try to fight back from there, and Lisboa at least showed enough against Clark to suggest she can hang onto that initiative, even if this might be an ugly fight. Both women are each somewhat of a mystery, but the pick is Lisboa via decision.

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