Ariane da Silva has been at the forefront of the women’s flyweight division long enough to know her way around. What is now arguably the best division in women’s MMA used to be a premier weight class, thanks to its global talent spread.
Long known as “The Queen of Violence,” da Silva — formerly known as Ariane Lipski — has been there for it all. But her expectations on the grandest stage never reached the dream-like finish line.
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Once one of the best flyweights on Earth, the now 32-year-old da Silva made her UFC debut at the start of 2019. In Sherdog’s global rankings, the Brazilian knockout artist was the No. 3-ranked 125-pound fighter behind only UFC champion Valentina Shevchenko and Bellator champion Ilima-Lei Macfarlane. Da Silva occupied her slot on the list with an unmatched highlight reel and a KSW championship résumé. She was already accustomed to the big stages, having won her title in front of a whopping 57,776 fans in Poland — the sixth largest MMA audience ever.
Seven years after da Silva expected to dominate the UFC, she’s found her way to the PFL cage, where she’ll debut against Sumiko Inaba at PFL Pittsburgh on March 28. The decision to continue, however didn’t come without some soul-searching.
“After my last fight in UFC, I had time where I was really thinking if I wanted to keep fighting or not,” da Silva told Uncrowned. “I was like, ‘OK, is it time to stop?’ Then I just kept training because I like to train. It was the first time in a long time that I was only training, not thinking about my next opponent, my next competition. Just training for improvement, training for having fun.
“I understood that I really liked to do that. After a couple months, I decided I wanted to keep fighting. We talked with Ali [Abdelaziz], my manager, and we said, ‘OK, I’m ready. If an opportunity shows up, I’m ready.'”
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Da Silva found her new fighting home around last October — four months after her third straight UFC loss, which cost her a roster spot. PFL had shifted its format entirely by that juncture, disbanding its eye-catching season approach.
The timing and changes perfectly aligned in da Silva’s mind. Motherhood is an overall goal she hopes to achieve, and she pondered whether it was time. Instead, the opportunity to fight on made her realize she has more to prove not just to the world, but to herself.
“My career was a fast start,” da Silva said. “I felt like everything was happening perfectly, on the right time. I was ready for the opportunity, and everything was just coming. When I signed with UFC, I saw so many good opportunities coming, but I wasn’t ready for all that opportunity at that moment. But I took all of them. I was always feeling that I was ready. In my mind, I said, ‘I’m ready, you’re gonna take that.’ I said yes for any fight.
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“You cannot get experience if you don’t make mistakes, if you don’t put yourself at risk. So, as I look back, I grew so much with the experience that I still have a lot to show. I want to see how I’m going to be after all this experience, after this moment of growth, right? Growing as a woman, as a person, as a fighter. So how am I going to be now? What’s next? That’s what I’m looking for.”
Win or lose, da Silva remained a deliverer of entertainment throughout her UFC run. And just like her career before the Octagon experience, when the UFC didn’t even house flyweights, the division is healthy and loaded globally.
Coincidentally, Dakota Ditcheva, da Silva’s former training partner at American Top Team in Florida, now occupies a similar role to the one the former KSW queen once held. Even though she’s with the PFL, Ditcheva is widely seen as a top flyweight regardless of promotion, sparking plenty of fantasy chatter about a potential future showdown with Shevchenko.
Inaba is the present task at hand for da Silva, and she’ll take this new venture fight by fight. Ultimately, da Silva sees a clear path to an eventual clash with her old friend.
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But more importantly, she views her future through gold-tinted lenses.
“When you go to train [at ATT], you kind of expect [to fight teammates],” da Silva said. “We used to train girls that were in my weight division in UFC. And I knew like, ‘OK, we’re going to train, but I know that we can fight.’ That’s the mindset when you go to train there. I know Amanda [Nunes] and Kayla [Harrison] was different because they were not in the same organization at that time [like me and Ditcheva].
“Fighting her would be awesome, as I believe she’s gonna become the champion. … So, fighting her means that I would achieve one step for my goal: Get the belt in PFL.”
