5 Things You Might Not Know About Polyana Viana

Polyana Viana still has the time, opportunity and wherewithal to make waves in the Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight division.

“Dama de Ferro” will attempt to get back to the .500 mark within the promotion when she confronts “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 26 alum Gillian Robertson as part of the UFC 297 undercard on Jan. 20 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Polyana, 31, enters the cage with wins in three of her past five outings. However, she finds herself on the rebound following an arm-triangle submission loss to Iasmin Lucindo at UFC on ESPN 51 in August.

As Viana approaches her forthcoming battle with Robertson at 115 pounds, here are five things you might not know about her:

1. Odds were stacked against her.

Viana was born to a single mother on June 14, 1992 in Sao Geraldo do Araguaia, Brazil,—a small city of 25,000 people situated in the northern region of the South American country. It sits roughly 5,000 miles to the southeast of UFC headquarters in Las Vegas.

2. She surrounds herself with the right people.

The 5-foot-7 strawweight operates out of the Chute Boxe affiliate fronted by Diego Lima in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The respected camp has produced a number of world-class competitors, former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira chief among them.

3. Regional achievements bolster her resume.

Viana put herself on the map and laid claim to the vacant Jungle Fight women’s strawweight championship in her eighth professional appearance, as she punched out Amanda Ribas in the first round of their JF 83 co-main event on Nov. 28, 2015. She made one successful title defense against Debora Dias Nascimento six months later, then moved on to the Watch Out Combat Show organization before signing with the UFC in 2018.

4. She favors a proven mode of operation.

The Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt has secured six of her eight submission victories via armbar, two of them inside the Octagon. Viana subdued Emily Whitmire with the maneuver in the first round of their UFC Fight Night 175 pairing on Aug. 29, 2020, then did the same to Mallory Martin at UFC 258 the following February.

5. Her training was tested in a real-world scenario.

Viana made headlines away from competition in 2019, when she thwarted an attempted robbery outside of her apartment in Rio de Janeiro. The assailant reportedly used a fake gun in the crime. “When he got close, I already thought, ‘If this guy is a thief, I’ll do this and that.’ I already knew what I was going to do,” Viana told CNN Sport. “I did not do it on impulse. I was calm, I knew what I was going to do, but I only did it because I knew he did not have a gun.” Pictures of the man and the damage he suffered to his face made the rounds in the mainstream media in the days following the incident.