BY RYAN BEVINS, ON X (FORMERLY TWITTER) @BEVOIS
Ahead of the LFA’s highly-anticipated return to Rio de Janeiro next week at LFA 179, LFA women’s strawweight champion Rose Conceição spoke about winning the world title, the state of her illustrious strawweight division, and the impact that the LFA has had on the growth of MMA in her home country of Brazil since it began its international expansion in the summer of 2021.
“The LFA is today the biggest MMA showcase in Brazil,” Conceição told LFA.com. “It has been revealing and has given opportunities to several Brazilian talents of which there are many.”
Conceição happens to be one of those many Brazilian talents with her first opportunity with the LFA coming in her home Northeast Region of Brazil at LFA 143. That event took place on September 30th, 2022 at the Ginásio de Esportes Geraldo Magalhães in Recife, which is the capital city of Pernambuco. This was the LFA’s first foray into the Northeast Region of Brazil and it drew a live attendance of around 10,000 fans to the venue. To this day, LFA 143 remains the record-holder for the largest live attendance in LFA history.
Conceição was making her LFA debut after signing with the promotion with a perfect 5-0 record and she made the most of the opportunity. Appearing as the featured strawweight bout on the main card of the event, Conceição defeated the local Pernambucana and fan favorite Mayara Thays via Unanimous Decision. This allowed her to announce herself to the world watching live on UFC Fight Pass, while positioning herself at the top of the strawweight rankings.
Watch LFA 179: Neto vs. Antunes
Rose Conceição won her LFA debut in her home Northeast Region of Brazil at LFA 143. The event drew the largest crowd in LFA history with around 10,000 people in attendance.
The dominant performance that Conceição showed against Thays at LFA 143 brought her record to 6-0 and led to her being offered a title shot against the newly-minted LFA women’s strawweight champion Julia Polastri. This happened after Polastri, a fellow Brazilian, submitted top Argentinian prospect Brenda Göttig to capture the title in the co-main event of LFA 151. Polastri and Conceição were officially set to headline the tenth LFA event in Brazil in the main event of LFA 159, which would have made them the first female LFA headliner to take place in Brazil. However, Polastri withdrew from the bout after receiving an offer to return to compete on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Conceição did not have to wait long and was quickly re-booked to headline LFA 162, which took place six weeks later. Her new opponent was a dynamic striker in Elaine Lopes, who was an LFA veteran and IFMA Muay Thai World Finalist. Conceição vs. Lopes would become the first female LFA headliner to take place in Brazil and both women put on a show. Conceição used this new challenge as an opportunity to test her skills over the course of five, five-minute rounds in her first world title fight. The Brazilian National Wrestling Champion also showed the willingness to engage on the feet against the dangerous striker and was rewarded by all three judges sitting cageside with a Unanimous Decision victory that read 48-47, 49-46, 48-47. The win upped her perfect record to 7-0 and made Conceição the sixth strawweight champion in LFA history.
Born in Guarulhos, São Paulo in the Southeast Region of Brazil, Conceição instead took the title back to Natal. This is the capital city of Rio Grande do Norte and the place she now calls home. The proud champion hopes to see the LFA travel back to the Northeast Region of Brazil to host an event in one of the country’s biggest MMA hotbeds.
“It would be incredible to have an LFA edition in my state, Rio Grande do Norte,” Conceição exclaimed.
Rose Conceição reigns over the LFA women’s strawweight division, which is considered one of the promotion’s golden divisions.
Conceição now reigns over the LFA women’s strawweight division. This is the LFA’s most successful women’s division and many consider it to be one of the promotion’s golden divisions for fighters looking to have success in the UFC. This is because there are fourteen LFA alumni currently competing in the UFC women’s strawweight division. That illustrious group includes Loopy Godinez, Jaqueline Amorim, Mackenzie Dern, Cynthia Calvillo, Tabatha Ricci, Piera Rodriguez, Vanessa Demopoulos, Sam Hughes, Cheyanne Vlismas, Bruna Brasil, Marnic Mann, Julia Polastri, Stephanie Luciano, and Talita Alencar. Impressively, this group includes all five previous LFA women’s strawweight champions in Demopoulos, Godinez, Rodriguez, Amorim, and Polastri.
The weight and prestige of the title Conceição possesses is not lost on the champion as she reflects on the elite group that make up the esteemed LFA sorority of fighters that currently compete in the UFC.
“I admire them as professionals,” stated Conceição. “Even more so because they left the event in which I am now champion.”
Watch the LFA 179: Preliminary Card on the LFA Fight Network
Conceição is a Brazilian National Wrestling Champion that loves showing off her grappling chops in MMA.
Conceição was most recently scheduled to defend her title against Giovanna Canuto in Las Vegas, Nevada at LFA 173. However, an injury forced her to withdraw from the bout. This would have been the Brazilian’s international debut and fighting in the United States is still a goal of hers.
“I admire the way Americans see sport,” stated Conceição. “I would like to feel the energy of the American fans.”
In her absence, the LFA booked an Interim Women’s Strawweight Title Fight with Natasha Kuziutina stepping in for the injured Conceição. The Olympic Judo bronze medalist from Russia defeated the BJJ black belt Canuto to capture the title. The following month, top undefeated contenders Naizi Catanhede and Lany Silva clashed in Brazil at LFA 175.
Needless to say, Conceição watched both fights with the dual nature of a fan and competitor and shared her thoughts on it quite eloquently, “Rosemary was thrilled with the fights and Rose Conceição tried to watch in a strategic way.”
Now as the LFA gets ready to return to Brazil for its fifteenth event in her country, Conceição has her eyes set on one match in particular. That would of course be a featured battle in her 115-pound division between Brazilian standouts Yasmin Castanho and Natalia Alves, which will take place on the main card of LFA 179. Castanho is a BJJ black belt that has two wins for the promotion, which includes an armbar victory on the first LFA event in Brazil (LFA 111). She will face Alves, who like Conceição, is an undefeated prospect from Natal. In fact, Conceição and Alves both won their LFA debut together at the same event (LFA 143).
“Castanho vs. Alves is an excellent fight that the LFA will provide to the public,” stated Conceição.
Rose Conceição won the LFA Women’s Strawweight Title in the Main Event of LFA 162.
Since we last saw Conceição in action last summer, she has taken the time to expand her training and knowledge of the sport by traveling stateside to train at Fusion X-cel Performance in Orlando, Florida. This happens to be the American home to fellow Brazilian stars such as Lyoto Machida, Rodolfo Vieira, and Lucas Alexander.
“Training outside of Brazil is always a desire of most athletes. I am no different,” stated Conceição. “Julien Williams has been doing an incredible job for the sport. Mano Santana and Bruno Antunes bring vast experience and knowledge.”
While it would be ideal for Conceição to have her first title defense booked again in the United States, the champion is ready to fight anywhere as she proudly embraces the increased expectations and responsibilities given to her as an LFA world champion.
“Being the LFA champion has increased my responsibilities. I need to live up to the title and always be ready to defend it,” Conceição explained. “My goals for this year are to successfully defend my LFA title and get hired by the UFC.”
You can watch LFA 179: Neto vs. Antunes on Saturday, March 23rd. This will be the promotion’s fifth event to take place in Rio de Janeiro and fifteenth event to take place in Brazil. LFA 179 will emanate live from Arena 1 in Parque Olímpico (Olympic Park) and will be available to watch worldwide. The Early Preliminary Card will be available on YouTube and the LFA Fight Network beginning at 12:45 p.m. ET / 9:45 a.m. PT. The Featured Preliminary Card will be available on YouTube and the LFA Fight Network and starts around 2:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m. PT. The Main Card airs LIVE on UFC Fight Pass at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT.
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About LFA:
LFA is a professional Mixed Martial Arts promotion that was formed by the powerhouse merger between RFA and Legacy FC in 2017. It has launched the careers of over 300 athletes that have reached the pinnacle of MMA by competing in the UFC. LFA presents live Mixed Martial Arts events on a monthly basis around the world including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Phoenix, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. Based in Las Vegas, NV, LFA is one of the most active and respected MMA organizations in the fastest growing sport in the world. The promotion owns and operates LFA FIGHT NETWORK™ , a premium YouTube channel that features live combat sports events alongside live LFA Prelims and historical fights.
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About ARENA 1:
Arena 1 is an indoor stadium in Barra da Tijuca in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The venue hosted basketball at the 2016 Summer Olympics as well as wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. As with a number of other venues in the Barra Olympic Park, Arena 1 was transformed after the games to become part of the Olympic Training Center.
