Ariane da Silva received a reality check in his recent UFC appearance, and an eye-opening loss to Jasmine Jasdavisius spurred a change in training before his next match against Wang Kong in a preliminary part of his UFC 316 fight card in Newark this weekend.
Da Silva said he decided to leave Florida for three weeks to dig all-in into wrestling training with Arizona Angel Sejudo and work with the brothers of former UFC champion Henry Sejudo to fix the hole in the game. Her schedule was “almost nogi and wrestling only,” and she trained with Henry and Tracy Cortez from time to time.
“Last year was a little complicated,” Da Silva said. “We had several training partners in wrestling, but the coach opened a new gym and we couldn’t train together as our schedule hadn’t worked since the battle with Casey O’Neill.
“I felt that I didn’t let go of things in the battle of Carine (Silva). I thought it was more spiritual than technology, but we had the fight for Jasmine. “No, they’re not in positions that I don’t know. I don’t know how to protect the monopod.
The former KSW flyweight champion felt that a change was needed after three consecutive wins were snapped against Carine Silva and Jasdavicius.
“I thought I needed to train,” Da Silva said. “Every athlete trains and learns in a certain way. How do I repeat it? Repeat. I have to do a lot of training. I have to repeat it over and over again so that my body responds in the right way in the fight. That’s what we just did.
Da Silva expected to face Miranda Maverick next. Instead, she will take on a Chinese prospect who recently rebounded from a shocking loss of upset on Gabriela Fernandez in her decision victory over Bruna Brazil.
“I have to prepare for everything because that’s the flaw I showed in my final fight, so she might even go to a grappling game plan against me,” Da Silva said. “I trained it all, and I made it the most difficult so that my body could respond and get the right answer to whatever the fight asks me.”
Da Silva is confident despite her second straight loss in the UFC and expects the same from Kong despite her hype hit after losing to Fernandez and a natural straw decision.
“I believe that every fighter has the confidence to go to fight regardless of their situation,” said Da Silva, who won the 13 Octagon appearance. “I can speak for myself. I’m making two losses and I’m still confident. I see her performance and wonder what will happen to her head. But I can analyze her technically and I believe it will be a very good fight as we are both strikers.”
“She’s very technical at her feet and does nothing crazy,” she continued.