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Surging atomweight star Victoria “Vick” Souza delivered a shocking upset when she clinched a hard-fought unanimous decision victory over Alyse “Lil’ Savage” Anderson at ONE 168: Denver.
The Brazilian overcame adversity to defeat her American foe after three grueling rounds in their atomweight MMA clash at Colorado’s Ball Arena, this past Friday, September 6.
However, that wasn’t a surprise to Souza as she anticipated a tough battle against the American from the get-go – especially in front of her opponent’s home crowd in Denver.
“Vick” told onefc.com:
“I expected a very tough fight. She has a much bigger wingspan than me and has some really good ground skills because of her long legs and elasticity.
“I have some training partners with a similar physical build to hers, so I did a lot of specific training with them precisely because of this.”
Ultimately, it was Souza’s superior grappling that gave her the upper hand over Anderson across 15 minutes of action.
The 27-year-old attacked with a plethora of rear-naked chokes and arm-triangles that were close to finishing the contest, but not before she had to defend some close calls of her own.
Souza had visualized all the potential scenarios during her training camp, both good and bad. This helped steady her mind, and she believes this was a key factor in staying calm and escaping “Lil’ Savage’s” tricky submission attempts:
“I did a lot of mental training and always imagined the fight with my hand raised at the end. I put myself in difficult situations mentally and always turned the tables or found a way out. And in the fight, it was like this.
“I escaped her triangle with a technique that my coach taught me and, from the armbar, I just spun to escape.
“But it was also a bit of heart there, because, oddly enough, I don’t have much elasticity.”
After a challenging start to her ONE career where she went 1-2, Victoria Souza has now added two big names in a row to her budding resume. She has also effectively announced herself as a threat in the atomweight ranks.
The Brazilian choked out Itsuki “Android 18” Hirata in June and quickly notched up her second straight win over Anderson at ONE 168.
Now full of confidence after applying the lessons she learned from her early defeats, “Vick” feels ready to test herself against anybody in the division:
“I’ve never turned down a fight. They can offer me any fighter in the division and I’ll fight.
“I’ve evolved a lot in ONE Championship. I’m more experienced and I’m always looking to evolve to put on a show for the fans.”
Sourcesloto cash