UFC Fight Night 207 on June 4 in Las Vegas will see the Ultimate Fighting Championship debut of Karine Silva when she takes on fellow Brazilian Poliana Botelho in a women’s flyweight clash. The Gile Ribeiro Team representative joins the promotion with a 14-4 mark, with all 14 of her victories having been secured inside two rounds. The opponents she has faced thus far carry a 95-80-5 record, for a .542 winning percentage.

Silva has earned a reputation as a vicious striker, but she can be equally deadly on the canvas. Nine of her wins have been finished by strikes, the quickest one being a 32-second knockout of Cintia Nunes at Aspera Fighting Championship 6 in 2014. Silva’s nine remaining victories have come by submission. Her Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills have proven quite versatile, as she has never finished two opponents with the same maneuver.

Save for her recent appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series and an unlucky foray into Russia, Silva has spent the entirety of her career in Brazil. The first half of it took place under the Aspera Fighting Championship banner, as she racked up six victories and headlined AFC 20, where she forced Leticia Oliveira Ribeiro to tap to a first-round armbar. Her first international assignment ended with a defeat at the hands of Marina Mokhnatkina, who submitted Silva with a kneebar at Fight Nights Global 81 in December 2017.


Starting with her Aug. 18, 2019 technical knockout of Vitoria Ferreira at Cidade da Luta 3, Silva piled up five consecutive wins that brought her to the doorstep of her forthcoming debut in the UFC. To cap the run, she took on Qihui Yan during Week 9 of DWCS in October. She spent most of the fight on her back, as Yan tried and failed to pass guard. Not only did Silva block all of Yan’s attempts, but she managed to bloody her nose with some shots from the bottom. She was far more proactive offensively in the second round, where she countered a reckless takedown attempt from Yan and timed a guillotine choke perfectly. Silva cinched the submission and left “Queen Kong” no choice but to tap at the 1:44 mark of Round 2.