After victorious short-notice UFC debut, Viviane Pereira ready to fight whomever, wherever

TORONTO – Viviane Pereira had a tough task for her UFC debut, and she managed to deliver by the skin of her teeth.

Before the split-decision call over Valerie Letourneau (8-6 MMA, 3-3 UFC) at Saturday’s UFC 206 was announced, Pereira (12-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) felt she’d done just enough to take the win.

But, being in hostile territory against a Canadian competitor, the Brazilian fighter did fear landing on the bad side of those scorecards.

“I think I was (worried),” Pereira said. “I think I could have gotten one takedown in the final round, a few more strikes, but the judges were fair and saw that I did my best to win that fight.

“I felt I’d done the bare basics to win that fight. It was a very tough fight, against the ninth-ranked fighter. I was called one month before. I didn’t do a full camp, but I did just enough to come out with the win.”

The catchweight bout (Letourneau missed the women’s strawweight limit) was part of the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC 206 event at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. It aired on FS1 following additional prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ahead of a main card on pay-per-view.

With her successful UFC debut, the 23-year-old Brazilian fighter now boasts an undefeated run made more impressive by the fact that, standing at little more than 5-feet tall, she’s fought previously at higher weights in both the flyweight and even bantamweight divisions.

That may be why, coming in, Pereira didn’t seem at all intimidated by Letourneau’s height – or the general picture of stepping in on short-notice (she was a substitute for fellow countrywoman Poliana Botelho) against an experienced onetime title challenger.

Being intimidated, apparently, is just not Pereira’s thing.

“I’m always ready to fight the best,” Pereira said. “If I win, I beat the best. If I lose, I lose to the best. Now I want to aim for the top. … Whomever comes, I’m ready to fight.”

That’s also why leaving her home in Ceara, Brazil, in the middle of summer, to face Toronto’s unforgiving December weather was also a non-issue for “Sucuri” (Portuguese for “anaconda”). Ready to fight as soon as her phone rings again, she’s up for anything.

“It was our dream coming true here,” Pereira said. “It’s priceless. In the cold, in the heat, whatever, I’ll look for the win.”

To hear more from Pereira on her successful UFC debut, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC 206, check out the UFC Events section of the site.