Vanessa Melo

BIOGRAPHY

Vanessa Melo is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and professional flyweight fighter currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Born on August 29, 1985 in Fortaleza, Brazil, she began competing in Taekwondo at age seven and went on to win numerous state championships. At 15 years old, Melo decided to transition into MMA and began training Jiu-Jitsu with her father. She eventually moved to Rio de Janeiro where she continued her training while working as a Muay Thai instructor.

In 2012, Melo made her professional MMA debut at Bitetti Combat 7: Brasil vs Argentina where she won via unanimous decision over fellow debutant Vanessa Guimarães. After competing for several regional promotions in Brazil such as BAMMA Brasil and Jungle Fight, Melo was chosen for The Ultimate Fighter 28: Heavy Hitters series where she competed in their women’s featherweight division. While on TUF 28, Melo earned wins over Larissa Cerqueira Pacheco via second round submission and Leah Letson by unanimous decision before being eliminated from the competition by Macy Chiasson who would go on to become the featherweight tournament winner.

After finishing The Ultimate Fighter 28 series with an overall record of 2-2-0, Melo made her official UFC debut against Taila Santos at UFC Fight Night 162 in October 2019 where she lost via split decision after three rounds of action. Despite this setback, it didn’t stop Vanessa from improving her skillset as a fighter which included transitioning down one weight class into flyweight when signing an exclusive multi fight contract with the promotion later that year at UFC 244 upon returning back home to Brazil for her third fight against Sarah Frota whom she defeated by first round submission due to an armbar finish just 1 minute and 39 seconds into their bout earning herself ‘Performance of The Night’ honors along with it.

As 2020 came around so did more opportunities for Vannessa as he got signed up for two more fights versus Tracy Cortez which ended in a draw followed by another impressive victory when taking out Justine Kish via second round armbar finish claiming yet another ‘Warrior Of The Night’ award during her fourth promotional appearance under the company banner this past December 5th showing us why they have kept bringing this talented woman back time after time since joining forces earlier last year making way now four consecutive appearances inside octagon walls since then all leading up towards what will be very exciting 2021!