Juliana Werner wants upset of Holly Holm at Legacy FC 30 to boost her career

Some fighters don’t like to look at their upcoming bouts as stepping stones. But that might not be the case for Juliana Werner.

There’s a big reason for that. The largely unheralded Werner (7-3) tonight meets the heavily hyped Holly Holm (6-0) in the main event of Legacy FC 30. And the Brazilian will take on the former pro boxer with Legacy’s inaugural bantamweight title on the line.

Legacy FC 30 takes place tonight at Route 66 Casino Hotel in Albuquerque, N.M., where Holm is based out of the Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA camp. The main card airs on AXS TV at 10 p.m. ET.

A win over Holm might not be expected by many, but Werner knows it’s an opportunity to put herself on the map.

“I’ve read the articles that say I’m the underdog,” Werner told MMAjunkie. “So I’m looking to surprise everyone. The underdog doesn’t always lose. I’m training hard to change the world’s opinion. Every fighter has habits. I have mine, Holly has hers. We’re training so we can exploit the limitations we identified in her fighting style.”

After two fights at flyweight, both decision wins, Werner moves back to bantamweight to fight Holm for the title. She said she walks around near the featherweight limit, so the opportunity to drop 10 pounds fewer is something she looked forward to.

Plus, if she is eyeing any future potential in the UFC, it would have to be at bantamweight for her. But she said she’ll take that as it comes after first fighting Holm.

“I’m taking it one fight at a time. I want to see how it goes,” she said. “I signed a three-fight contract with Legacy. After the three fights, let’s see. Maybe I can go to either Invicta or the UFC since I am a bantamweight.”

In a statistical oddity, all three of Werner’s losses have come against the same opponent: fellow Brazilian Vanessa Porto, who recently has been seen under the Invicta banner.

Werner was stopped by Porto in the first round of her first pro fight. After two wins in back-to-back weeks, she got another shot at Porto two months after the first fight – and was submitted in just 33 seconds. After being on the sidelines for 15 months, she took one more crack at her, and again was submitted in the first round.

The losses to Porto, particularly the back-to-back submissions, convinced Werner that she needed to move beyond just the standup game.

“When I faced Vanessa Porto, I didn’t train on the ground too much,” she said. “I was mostly a striker. But since then, I’ve been putting a lot of effort into training jiu-jitsu and wrestling. I used to be almost a pure muay Thai fighter.”

Now she has five straight wins – a pair of knockouts and three decisions. But the most recent four came after a layoff of nearly five years, during which time Werner said she “had become discouraged with MMA” because there weren’t many fights for her in Brazil.

But in 2011, she got talked into a return, and her upgraded training regimen to one of a well-rounded skill set has shown, she said, “especially in my last two fights, where I was able to showcase my takedown defense. When I faced Vanessa years ago, she took me down easily. I am a much more complete fighter than when I faced Vanessa Porto. All I had then was striking.”

And she hopes that might prove to be the Kryptonite for Holm, someone no one else has been able to figure out, including two Legacy opponents and a win at Bellator 91.

Werner said she’s prepared to go 25 minutes if she has to, and has her sights set on just what an upset could do for her career.

“I don’t live from fighting,” she said. “I make my living from teaching. I’ve been spending all my time training when I’m not teaching. This is the fight of my life. I hope it gives a boost to my career – and maybe I can start training full time.”

For the latest on Legacy FC 30, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.