Bia Mesquita wrote her name in the history of jiu-jitsu at the 10 IBJJF Worlds Championships. Plus, there’s an ADCC gold medal and dozens of other related titles in Grappling, and they hope to punch tickets to the UFC this Friday in Salamanca, New York.
Meskita will face Sierra Din Woody in the vacant LFA bantamweight title in the main event of LFA 211 on June 20th, almost a year after her professional MMA debut. America’s top team product said MMA would either win a shot in the LFA belt or a straight call to the UFC ahead of the recent fight in March, but winning via DQ must have decided her future in the short term.
The jiu-Jitsu ace, who was 3-0 with the trio’s rear choke, fought Hope Chase a few days before UFC 313 in Las Vegas, saying that the company matchmaker was in attendance. However, she was unable to introduce her grappling skills. Eventually, the mezquita sees the glass half full.
“This belt, this title, is necessary to end this cycle,” Meskita told MMA Fighting. “It’s like my internship at MMA, right? It’s my first step, so I feel confident when I go to the UFC. It’s even more ready. It’s five rounds of training and that makes all the difference. I’ve gained a lot of experience in this last camp. It’s also my first 10 weeks of camp.
“(The fight) didn’t finish the way everyone wanted, but of course I wanted to sign with the UFC, but at this moment I was ready. This camp prepared me even more. It’s nice.”
Meskita improved to 4-0 that night, but after not getting his first submission in MMA, it felt strange leaving the cage in a disqualified victory “like something was missing”. Instead, she left worrying that her eyes weren’t the same.
“The moment she hit her heel, I felt my eyes enter,” Mesquita said. “You know, like the heels landed perfectly on the eye socket? When I hold my eyes in my hand and go down and try to open it, it doesn’t seem to be controlling it anymore. I’m starting to feel desperate, right?
“I wanted to be ‘No, I’ll continue (I’ll fight)’, but the doctor said there was no way. It was crazy, I couldn’t see it with that eye. It was a huge hit. Thank you to God.
Friday’s opponent Diniwood is a jiu-jitsu purple belt with two finishes in the MMA. Both have a 4-0 record, but Meskita feels she’s one step ahead after building a record-breaking career in grappling and training with Florida’s like Kela Harrison and Jana Santos.
“I feel very prepared for everything, but in the end I’ll go to the ground. We’re literally in the cage and there’s no place to run,” Meskita said with a laugh. “There’s a chance something could happen there. I didn’t know what to expect, so I made sure to move every situation so I wouldn’t get frustrated. I trained enough to know that I wouldn’t have to beat her in the first round. No, I’m cool.