Karol
Rosa likes to keep all her options on the table.
The 27-year-old Brazilian upstart will try to continue her rise
through the
Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s bantamweight ranks when
she toes the line against
Sara McMann
as part of the
UFC on ESPN 33 undercard this Saturday at Nationwide Arena in
Columbus, Ohio. Rosa has rattled off six consecutive victories,
four of them since she joined the UFC roster in 2019, and views
McMann as a potential steppingstone at 135 pounds.
“I’m looking forward to beating Sara and entering the Top 10 of our
weight class,” she told Sherdog.com. “Who knows? I’d love to be
fighting for the belt by the end of this year or by the start of
next year.”
Rosa expects a stern test when she meets the Takoma Park, Maryland,
native. A silver medalist in freestyle wrestling at the 2004 Sumer
Olympics in Sydney, McMann has experienced an uneven run in the
UFC, where she carries a 6-6 record that includes losses to four
current or former champions:
Julianna
Pena,
Ronda
Rousey,
Miesha Tate
and
Amanda
Nunes.
“Sara is the best wrestler in our weight class,” Rosa said. “She’s
a great grappler. She has good striking, but her forte is takedowns
and [the] ground game. I’m a jiu-jitsu black belt. I’m very
confident on the ground, and I’ve made significant improvements on
my muay Thai. I believe we’ll have a great fight since our styles
match up so well.”
Operating out of the same Parana Vale Tudo camp that produced
Jessica
Andrade, Rosa hit the ground running in the UFC. She made her
promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 157 on Aug. 31, 2019, when she
engaged in a memorable firefight with
Lara
Procopio and emerged with a split decision. Rosa has since gone
on to defeat
Vanessa
Melo,
Joselyne
Edwards and
Bethe
Correia. Like many other competitors, she was forced to
navigate the logistical issues brought about by the coronavirus
pandemic, including several failed attempts to book a fight with
Julia
Avila. It limited her to one appearance in 2020 and two in
2021.
“It was also difficult for Brazilians to enter the United States,
but everything happens on God’s time,” Rosa said. “The
cancellations allowed me additional training time. I was able to
build up my confidence and take time to analyze my future
opponents. The time was also helpful in helping me mature and
further perfect my game.”
Despite her quick success in the UFC, Rosa remembers her brushes
with adversity as a prospect on the regional scene in Brazil. A
majority decision defeat to
Gisele
Moreira and submission defeats to
Larissa
Pacheco and
Melissa
Gatto forced her to look inward and did much to shape her
development.
“My losses—we always learn from them,” Rosa said. “I wasn’t ready
to be in the UFC yet. The losses allowed me to mature and learn
more about my own game. It’s how I was able to see what needed to
be improved. That was very important for my growth.”
As Rosa approaches perhaps the most significant opportunity of her
career to date, she points to a source of strength that exists
outside the confines of competition.
“I am a girl who has a lot of faith,” she said. “I believe strongly
in God, and everything that happens in my life is because He allows
it to happen. My faith is what moves me every day.”