Elisandra
Ferreira enjoys proving the doubters wrong. The diminutive
Brazilian, a former
Invicta Fighting Championships atomweight queen, makes her
Professional Fighters League debut Saturday in Lagos,
Nigeria.
Early on, due to a relatively late start in mixed martial arts,
“Lili” fought her first professional bout on a wing and a prayer. A
technical knockout win reinforced the idea that, despite still
having much to learn, this was going to be her chosen path.
“I’ve never been one to turn down a fight. I wanted to see how it
would go,” she shared in her native Portuguese.
“I had competed in muay thai and jiu-jitsu, separately. I lost two
bouts as an amateur, but it wasn’t a bad thing. It was more of a
wakeup call. I now knew I wanted to pursue this, and that I needed
to improve. I wished I had had more fights as an amateur, but age
counts for a lot in MMA. When the opportunity came for me to fight
as a pro, now that I was training seriously, we decided to go for
it.”
Few people encouraged her commitment to combat sports.
“It was mostly folks from our academy who’d say I should fight. As
far as family, no one supported me in that. Even today, there are
very few in my family who support it. I carved my own path because
of how much I wanted this. I saw the challenge. I knew I could do
it. And I understood I’d have to improve every day, whether I won
or lost. Today, I work with [former PFL tournament champion]
Larissa
Pacheco, coach Marcelo
Bispo and [BJJ champion] Livia Felix.
Besides capturing and defending the Invicta FC belt, Ferreira sees
other key moments in her pro career as contributing to her place in
the PFL.
“I think all my fights were important. Of course, there are some
that weigh a bit more because of a belt, like Invicta, Nacao Cyborg
[Cris
Cyborg’s promotion] and Karate Combat. But every fight is the
fight of my life, another step in making my dreams come true.
Defeats were also very important to me. Those fights allowed me to
grow professionally and as a person, too. They changed my point of
view. In the end, they gave me the motivation to change some things
and keep improving.”
She originally planned to keep fighting at Invicta, but the
promotion hasn’t put on an event since May of 2025.
“I had a contract with Invicta. My contract was completed after my
title defense. But I was planning to move up in weight. I had asked
Invicta to fight at strawweight next, but they stopped having
cards. Within a week, I received a call to fight at Karate Combat.
It was an excellent opportunity to stay active and for visibility.
We were looking around for MMA opportunities. Another big promotion
didn’t seem interested in me. That’s when my manager said I was
hired by the PFL. It’s a gigantic opportunity, a door that opened
which I plan to hold onto with both hands.”
Ferreira’s next opponent is undefeated fighter Juliet
Ukah, who will have home advantage in Lagos. Ferreira is
confident she has Ukah’s number.
“I only saw two of her videos. I left things up to my trainers
Marcelo Bispo and Larissa Pacheco. We sat down and talked about
what she does in every fight, how she wins, and how to beat her. We
focused on countering her attacks, and on the fact that she’s
taller. People think I’m too small. But it’s a tremendous advantage
for me. I’ll show that when I knock her out.”
One interesting hiccup is the fact that the PFL Nigeria takes place
exactly as Brazil debuts against Morocco in the 2026 FIFA World
Soccer Cup. Ferreira hopes to make the best of it.
“I believe my fight will be before the game. I’m looking forward to
celebrating my first PFL win, followed by us, Brazil, winning
another one.”
One more unexpected factor during fight night may be the fans in
attendance. Ferreira suspects that some cultural differences may be
at play, maybe machismo, maybe a lack of familiarity with the
sport.
“I think it’s important to say that, from what I can tell, people
in Nigeria don’t like to see women fighting. We’re here to change
that. We can show that we have the necessary strength. Women have
children. We feel a pain that no one else understands. So why can’t
we fight, same as men? Plus, everyone keeps bringing up the fact
that I’m small. People think that’s a problem, but I’ll prove them
wrong by having my hand raised in the end. I’m small but I have KO
power. There are two women’s fights on the card and I’m confident
they’ll be the best fights of the night. Women’s fights are
something else! We’re all heart and aggression.”