Viviane “Vivi”Araujo

Viviane Araujo is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Women’s Flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). She was born on October 10, 1985 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Araujo started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu at age 17 and quickly became a black belt in less than five years. She went on to pursue her dream of becoming an MMA fighter by joining Team Nogueira and made her professional debut in 2011 competing for various promotions such as XFC International, Shooto Brazil and Jungle Fight.

Her impressive run through the regional circuit earned her a spot with Invicta FC where she defeated DeAnna Bennett via unanimous decision for their 2015 strawweight division title fight. After defending her title against Jinh Yu Frey in 2017, Araujo signed with UFC that same year.

In her octagon debut at UFC Fight Night: Magny vs Ponzinibbio, she defeated Talita Bernardo by unanimous decision to earn Performance of the Night honors. As one of the hottest emerging stars on their roster, Araujo followed up with back-to-back wins over Jessica Eye and Roxanne Modafferi before suffering a defeat against Jennifer Maia during their 2019 clash at UFC Fight Night 161: Joanna vs Waterson event. Despite this setback, Viviane bounced back strong with victories over Montana De La Rosa and Andrea Lee respectively while also earning Performance of The Night honors once again after finishing off Rachael Ostovich earlier this year during UFC 246: McGregor vs Cowboy card.
Aside from fighting for gold inside the cage or stepping into the squared circle for boxing sparring sessions under Rafael Cordeiro’s tutelage; Viviane has been actively involved outside combat sports giving lectures about self-defense classes as part of The One Challenge charity initiative which seeks to empower women around Latin America region as well as doing social work within community centers across Rio de Janeiro State trough Ayrton Senna Foundation since 2013 . In 2020 she also joined forces alongside Thales Leites for Projeto Zebra project – an organization dedicated to rescuing animals from abandonment or mistreatment – where they take care not only about cats & dogs but horses too among other species found around wild areas close to Petrópolis city located at Serrana Mountain range nearby So Paulo State borders . All these efforts have earned Viviane several recognitions throughout local media outlets & publications awarding her “Humanitarian Of The Year 2018” while being part of ESPY Awards nominee list twelve months later alongside fellow countrymen Anderson Silva & Renan Barão .

Today , Viviane stands 6–2–1 record within UFC rankings being placed fifth among flyweight contenders behind champion Valentina Shevchenko , Katlyn Chookagian , Jessica Andrade & Joanne Calderwood striving hard towards get closer towards deserved title shot when circumstances lined up due pandemic related prevents holding major events worldwide .