25-year-old strawweight Denise Gomes was overestimated within the UFC after scoring back-to-back knockouts towards Bruna Brasil and Yazmin Jauregui in 2023, the latter in simply 20 seconds, after which misplaced to skilled veteran Angela Hill.
And that setback modified her method to the sport.
Gomes rebounded with a pair of choices over Eduarda Moura and Karolina Kowalkiewicz to go 4-2 within the firm and 10-3 total as a professional fighter, and sees her 115-pound conflict with Elise Reed on Might 17 as one other alternative to develop as an athlete.
“I’m getting higher, and I’m fascinated by the longer term,” Gomes informed MMA Preventing forward of UFC Vegas 106. “I had an enormous coronary heart however I wasn’t mature or good, so I used to be in search of that now. That’s the Karolina combat. Individuals stated, ‘Oh, you may have knocked her out.’ I actually might, however perhaps if I appeared a lot for the knockout I wouldn’t have advanced as a lot as I feel I did. I’m making an attempt to change into an entire fighter. I’m working laborious behind the curtains. I’ve to check myself. Prefer it or not, I’ve to consider the longer term. Possibly folks don’t get that. As a result of I’ve an enormous knockout energy, that’s all I’ve to make use of? I’ve to work to change into an entire fighter.”
Reed, a former Cage Fury strawweight champion with a previous win over Jasmine Jasudavicius, has been bouncing between wins and losses within the firm from the beginning. In her most up-to-date match, the 32-year-old scored a call over Jessica Penne to enhance to 4-4 within the UFC.
Gomes sees evolution in her personal sport, nevertheless it’s nonetheless an extended course of.
“These final couple of fights had been superb for me as a result of it gave me confidence, however I’m nonetheless on that path,” Gomes stated. “One step after the opposite. I’m not aiming at cash, I’m not aiming at rankings, I’m aiming at changing into higher than I used to be in my final combat as a result of I do know the remainder is consequence. For this yr, that’s the larger objective as an athlete and an individual.”
On the similar time MMA is a sport, it’s additionally leisure. Gomes is aware of that placing on performances which may be perceived as unexciting might damage her model in the long run. She asks followers to be affected person, although.
“It’s particularly laborious due to the boos,” Gomes stated. “Individuals wish to see fighters actually breaking one another in there. And we like that, too. And when it’s time for us to grapple as an alternative of buying and selling on the toes, folks boo. At that second it’s good to have self-control and be like, ‘No, I’m preventing for me first, after which for the followers.’ However that can all have a objective sooner or later.”
Gomes remains to be in a “transition” from all-action entertainer to well-rounded athlete, however feels assured sufficient to lastly say she’s a MMA fighter now. With a win Saturday, Gomes plans to ask the UFC for a slot on a card on the highway to place herself out of the consolation zone and in entrance of a bigger viewers away from the APEX.
“I’m displaying that each time I combat, that I’m not only a striker,” Gomes stated. “My motto is aggressiveness with intelligence. Aggressiveness introduced me right here, however I imagine that that alone gained’t take me the place I wish to go. That’s what separates those on the prime. I feel I’ve that aggressiveness and I’m a bit smarter for this combat.
“I don’t assume [Reed] will final three rounds as a result of I’ve a very good eye for a knockout, however I can even grapple. I wanna go in there and really feel the combat and be in management. The knockouts I had had been pure intuition — with intelligence, too. However I need extra. I’m not pleased with solely that. The fights I misplaced pushed me to assume, ‘What if the technique doesn’t work, what am I going to do?’ I used to be underestimated earlier than and I don’t underestimate anybody, however I do know myself. I do know I’ve the means to complete her.”
