Polyana
Viana
prefers to take everything in stride.
The 31-year-old Brazilian will attempt to even her
Ultimate Fighting Championship record at 5-5 when she squares
off with
Gillian
Robertson as part of the
UFC 297 undercard this Saturday at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
A member of the UFC roster since 2018, Viana has alternated wins
and losses in each of her past three appearances and finds herself
on the rebound following a second-round submission defeat to
Iasmin
Lucindo at UFC on ESPN 51 in August.
“Despite highs and lows, thankfully I’ve been in the UFC for a long
time,” she told Sherdog.com. “I can’t really say that any
individual bout was the most important. The most important one is
always the next. I don’t subscribe much to any philosophy about
learning from defeat. I feel we learn, whether we lose or win. In
the end, screw it. If we lose, we just have to hold our heads high
and get back to training.”
Robertson was cast on Season 26 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality
series in 2017 and arrived in the UFC soon after. The
Din
Thomas-trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt has compiled a
9-6 mark inside the Octagon, her run highlighted by submission
victories against
Hannah
Cifers,
Emily
Whitmire,
Molly
McCann,
Veronica
Hardy,
Cortney
Casey,
Priscila
Cachoeira,
Mariya
Agapova and
Piera
Rodriguez. Robertson, 28, last competed on June 24, when she
dropped a three-round unanimous decision to
Tabatha
Ricci at UFC on ABC 5.
“I watched some of her fights,” Viana said. “Most of her wins are
by submission, but everyone has holes in their game. She does. I
do. I feel our bout will mostly play out on the mat, since that’s
what we both favor. I see myself submitting her.”
A former
Jungle
Fight champion, Viana sees herself as an ascending talent in
the 115-pound weight class. Finishes of the aforementioned
Whitmire,
Mallory
Martin and former
Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder
Jinh Yu
Frey—the latter via 47-second knockout—fuel her self-belief.
Viana can envision a scenario where she gets past Robertson and
rises rapidly through the women’s strawweight ranks in 2024.
“I want to make it into the Top 5 this year, so hopefully I can
continue climbing up and hopefully fight for the belt next year,”
she said. “I wouldn’t expect that to happen this year, since our
weight class is jam-packed. Plus, it’s full of talent in the Top
15. I’m working every day to become even better.”