Ariane Lipski da Silva, Ready for Battle

As she prepares to face Cong Wang at UFC 316 on Saturday in Newark, Ariane Lipski da Silva reflected on the winding road that has brought her to the world’s top MMA organization. The 31-year-old “Queen” spoke to Sherdog, naming the heroes who inspired her to become a professional fighter and openly discussing the growing pains she experienced upon turning pro, and again after joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship as a former champ from another major promotion.

“I’ve been fighting MMA professionally for [over] 11 years,” she said. “I got started at 19 years old. A lot has changed in women’s MMA until now. Back in the day, there were much fewer women in the sport. But Ronda Rousey was in the UFC, so women’s MMA started to become more popular. Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes – those who had already been around – had many more hurdles to overcome. I got started at the time when things were transitioning. I had many great opportunities. I took advantage of them all. Sometimes, I wasn’t prepared, but I was always confident in my training from the start. I started fighting in the Nitrix Champion Fight promotion, which was broadcast on Brazilian television. Along the way, I faced opponents who were stronger and more accomplished.

“I didn’t have a good start,” she admitted. “For a while, I had a negative record [2-3] but we were able to overcome that. I went on a nine-fight winning streak, including my first fight in the KSW promotion [against Katarzyna Lubonska]. For that fight, I had three weeks’ notice. I accepted and won by KO. From there, more opportunities appeared such as facing Juliana Werner in Brazil and Sheila Gaff in Poland, after her UFC run. I was a young athlete, always evolving. When I debuted in professional MMA, I was a jiu-jitsu white belt with 16 amateur muay thai bouts to my name. I had been training with [coach and husband] Renato Silva for one year only. I was able to conquer the KSW belt during that run, not to mention two title defenses.”

That sensational finishing run in KSW led to a call from the UFC, which was about to inaugurate a women’s 125-pound division. Lipski da Silva readily answered the call, but fell short in her first two Octagon outings, and admits now that she had some catching up to do in terms of skill. “After those nine wins, I got into the UFC, which had its own opportunities. I fought Joanne Wood in the newly created flyweight category. She was a top 5 fighter at the time. At that time, I hadn’t fought in a year while dealing with some injuries. The UFC’s fighters have higher grappling skills, compared to KSW’s. I couldn’t pass up the chance to debut in the UFC, despite my lingering injuries at that time.

“Thankfully, all those chances brought me to where I am today,” she added. “I wasn’t ready every time, but I learned, evolved and always came back better. Now it will be six years in the UFC. Things haven’t played out as we hoped. The goal is always the championship belt. There have been highs and lows. And I’ve always said yes, no matter how tough my opponents. I like to stay active and fight as frequently as I can, when I’m not injured. I’m always maturing as an athlete. I am in the top 15 of my weight class. We – my husband and I – never stop giving our best. Our team has always been the two of us. We started with very little and now we’re among the best in the world.”

In her upcoming opponent, Wang, a former wushu sanda world champion with just eight professional MMA fights to her name, Lipski da Silva may see a little of her younger self. “Cong Wang is highly experienced in kickboxing. But she doesn’t have that much experience in MMA. Since this is MMA, I have to be ready in every area. I’ve been working on improving my wrestling in case she wants to switch things up. I don’t think her game plan is to grapple, but it’s a possibility. The goal now is to follow the strategy we put together and be ready for any eventuality. The key is to be aggressive. It’s my style. It’s what I do best and it’s my path to victory.”

Training for UFC 316, as for all of her previous fights, has been a family affair, but she and Renato continue to outsource individual coaching and training resources as needed to ensure her preparation is well rounded. “We’ve been living in Florida since 2020,” she said. “We’ve been training independently since 2023. It works best for me. We trained no-gi jiu-jitsu at Vagner Rocha’s academy. My husband Renato Silva is my head coach. He is also my striking coach. And he’s the one who coordinates all my training sessions. I was uninjured since my last fight [against Jasmine Jasudavicius]. I only took a week off and then came back to the gym. I’ve been putting emphasis on my wrestling ever since. We also went to Arizona to train wrestling with Angel Cejudo, Henry Cejudo’s brother. Back in Florida, we put in a lot of time and repetition into our striking, considering my opponent. That’s how I learn best. The goal is to train to the point that these skills will be automatic during the actual fight, but not to the point of overtraining. In the past, my losses were due to not reacting fast enough. And I learn best by repetition. The overall goal for this training camp was to train as much as humanly possible, with a good recovery period and without any injuries.”