Mahalia confident for the MMA debut

By Erik Engelhart

Jungle Fight, event that will rockSão Paulo September 19, will bring a female fight on its card. Mahalia Rocha (Checkmat) will make her MMA debut against the experienced Vanessa Porto (Iglesias Gold Team), who already faced tough fighters as Ana Maria "Índia", Carina Damm and Cris Cyborg. Mahalia trains Jiu-Jitsu for about six years , and trains Muay Thai for about four years, and Boxe for two. Mahalia knows Vanessa is a tough, but she's confident.

“I'm confident in my Jiu-Jitsu, I want a ground fight. Even being good on striking, I want to take it to the ground. I'm really happy for being fighting on Jungle, that is a great show, I'm ready fort his fight, and I think I can get it“, said the purple belt, who thinks that female MMA has a long way to move on yet. “Market is growing, but I think it lacks investment, on female MMA mainly. A lot of girls want to fight, but they have no structure. After Cyborg vs. Gina (Carano, on Strikeforce), I believe we’ll have more visibility. People are discriminating less, they're starting to look female MMA another way“, said the fighter.