Former Ultimate Fighting Championship title challenger Taila Santos made believers out of many when she lost a controversial split decision to Valentina Shevchenko in 2022. However, a second consecutive loss resulted in her departure from the promotion and led the Brazilian to sign with the Professional Fighters League as a free agent. The partnership has paid off for both sides.

Although she left the UFC on a sour note, Santos only has three losses in her 24-fight career. She will take on fellow veteran Liz Carmouche in the women’s flyweight semifinals at PFL 7 this Friday at the Nashville, Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. There, Santos can take another step toward capturing the world championship that eluded her in the UFC. When she looks in the mirror, she sees a fighter at the height of her power.

“I believe that I’m at the top of my conditioning and in my career,” Santos told Sherdog.com. “Although I’m still very young, there’s still a lot that I have to prove [and] there’s still a lot that I have to do. Right now, the target is the PFL belt, so I have two more fights to go through. But that’s the plan. I’m here to take the belt, move forward and grow through the promotion.”

While engaged in a much different format with the PFL, Santos has had no qualms about her new home. In fact, she claims to have enjoyed every aspect of it, including the steady workload.

“I’m extremely happy with everything that’s been going on with the PFL,” she said. “The organization is not like anything compared to where I was before. The treatment of the fighters is fantastic. Everything that I’ve needed, I’ve had it. Just good things to say about the PFL.”

Finding career success outside the UFC provides another narrative ahead of Santos’ showdown with Carmouche, who made 10 appearances inside the Octagon between February 23, 2013 and Aug. 10, 2019. Carmouche has rattled off nine straight wins since leaving the organization, having captured the Bellator MMA women’s flyweight crown in 2022.

“That’s the thing when you’re outside of the organization just looking in, you get a little blinded because it’s what the media tell us,” Santos said. “[The UFC is] where all the spotlight seems to be. Everything is UFC, UFC. There’s so much outside. There’s a big environment that we can work on. When I got out of the UFC, a friend told me, ‘Don’t worry. There’s life outside of the UFC.’ And we’ve been proving it. There’s a very healthy environment outside of the UFC. You don’t really depend on just that one place, that one structure, to compete in MMA and make a living out of MMA.”

Santos holds Carmouche in high regard and looks forward to the challenge she presents.

“Liz is one of the best veterans that we have in the sport that is still active,” she said. “She’s been there, [and] she’s done it. She’s fought everybody, every name in the division. I know she is a very tough opponent. She has a very tough style. I know she’s going to try to pressure me and impose that [will], but at the end of the day, it’s another fight. It’s more about what I’m going to do than what I’m expecting her to do. I’m going to be first, and I’m going to be victorious.”