Jacqueline Cavalcanti looks to make waves in the bantamweight division with a win over Julia Avila this Saturday night at UFC Vegas 102, and she credits much of her success to the legendary Cris Cyborg.
Cavalcanti was raised at the Saloá favela in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and saw herself surrounded by martial arts early on, training judo and capoeira as a kid. Her mother worked as a maid in Sao Paulo, making enough money to make ends meet and not much else, so she decided to risk everything and move to Portugal looking for a better life. Two years later, still working as a maid in Portugal, but with enough money to have a more comfortable life, she felt it was time to bring her 11-year-old daughter over to Europe.
“Staying away from my mother for two years was tough and as kids we don’t understand the whys,” Cavalcanti told MMA Fighting, “But now I understand perfectly that it was something necessary to get us where we are today. There weren’t many opportunities to make money and grow as a maid [in Brazil], and in Portugal, although she still works as a maid, she could at least make something.”
Cavalcanti said she could barely read Portuguese when she left Brazil because the public system isn’t good enough, and arriving in Portugal at 11 and not knowing those basics was “a bit traumatizing.” She worked hard to catch up and her native language wasn’t the only thing she was learning in her new home. The Sao Paulo native dreamed of working in sports and ended up falling in love with kickboxing and Muay Thai. That wasn’t necessarily lucrative, though, so she worked as waitress and at a local IKEA to put food on the table after turning 18.
Established in the combat sports circuit as a promising kickboxer, Cavalcanti wasn’t into the idea of competing in mixed martial arts until she met Cris Cyborg, who at that point was the UFC featherweight champion.
“Cris Cyborg was in Portugal for a seminar and told me, ‘Wow, you’re good at this. You should invest more in MMA,’” Cavalcanti said. “I had never even started training MMA, all I had was kickboxing and some takedown defense and stuff like that.”
Cyborg’s seminar took place at a local MMA gym that had already invited Cavalcanti to join in, but initially she passed because there were no women training there. After Cyborg’s show of support, Cavalcanti decided to compete in kickboxing for the final time, claiming a title on a local promotion, and then focus 100 percent on a new sport.
“I knew I would have a lot more opportunities in MMA and make that a career, but it would also take a long time,” said Cavalcanti, who won her first MMA bout months later in Portugal. “I had to add a lot to my game. I wanted to get to the UFC and it would take time, and I had to start right away. I always thank Cris when I see her. She was already an idol for me, so when I got to see her in person and how amazing she was, I was like, ‘I have to start now.’”
Cavalcanti hopes to one day be an inspiration for others as Cyborg was for her, especially in a country like Portugal that doesn’t have many female athletes competing for major MMA promotions. Cavalcanti said she tries her best to balance her relationship between Brazil and Portugal, but it often creates drama online.
“I know there’s a war between Portugal and Brazil so when I fight there are comments about it,” Cavalcanti said. “Brazilians are like, ‘Give our gold back’ [laughs] and the Portuguese respond. I feel very welcomed in Portugal. Of course, some people suffer from prejudice, but it’s a blessed country. I’m very happy, but at the same time I see it as an unnecessary war.”
“I feel Brazilian because my friends are Brazilian, my family is Brazilian, and we have Brazilian traditions at home,” she added, “But I also embrace this Portuguese side because I was the first woman to get there. Portugal is a very, very small country that works hard every single day to get better, so it’s a way of me incentivizing the sport in Portugal, of incentivizing women to take it more seriously and see it’s possible.”
Cavalcanti built a record of 4-1 before claiming the LFA bantamweight title with a decision over Melissa Croden in 2023 and then signed with UFC. She beat Zarah Fairn in her debut, and improved to 8-1 with a couple of decisions over Josiane Nunes and Nora Cornolle before being offered a fight with Germaine de Randamie for Jan. 11. However, the former UFC champion abruptly retired from the sport, citing a decision to end her career before the end of 2024.
“Germaine was a former champion and was ranked, so it was perfect for me,” Cavalcanti said. “It would be amazing to fight her. I know it would be a tougher fight because she’s a good striker, and she was someone I looked up to. I was still in kickboxing when she was the UFC champion. A few weeks went by after she allegedly agreed to the fight and signed the contract, I see a video online of her saying she was out of the fight and retired. It was just 11 more days [laughs].
“I was very, very upset. I was upset because the contract was already signed. I know Germaine, we had dinner together before and shared a locked room once. I think she was very inconsiderate. She texted me later saying she hadn’t signed the contract, but people here in the UFC told me she did sign the contract. I was a bit disappointed, but it’s over. They gave me a new fight the next day and it’s all good now.”
Avila stepped in as a replacement, with the match being moved a month later to UFC Vegas 102 on Feb. 15. “Raging Panda” only fought once since 2021, a third-round submission loss to Miesha Tate in her first fight back from pregnancy. Cavalcanti sees her as a “very explosive” fighter, but not as technical on the feet. Her goal is to add another win to her résumé and then call for a top 10 opponent next, but is concerned with the politics at the top of her weight class.
“The problem with this division is that the champion doesn’t want to fight,” said Cavalcanti, referring to Julianna Peña. “Maybe they’ll do an interim belt, and maybe Amanda [Nunes] comes back — or not. If Kayla Harrison wins, she might come back. For someone who likes to stay active as I do, it’s bad. Sometimes there are no fights. I’ll just fight whoever I have to fight to stay active and build this connection with the fans. I’m 27 and I know I have plenty of time to become champion.”
