Priscila Cachoeira eyes rematch with Shevchenko after a few more UFC fights

After a one-sided submission loss to Valentina Schevchenko at UFC Belem in February, flyweight Priscila Cachoeira doesn’t want to spend too much time sidelined thinking about the defeat. However, as she nurses a knee injury suffered in the opening seconds of the fight, Priscila has no other choice but to deal with the aftermath of such a difficult Octagon debut.

For Cachoeira, the hardest part was going online to see what people talked about the fight and then having to watch it for herself.

“I couldn’t watch my fight, because I’d go online and see it being called ‘massacre’ or ‘beatdown,’” Cachoeira told MMAjunkie. “I did the MRI. I saw my knee was busted, that it was serious, that I’d need surgery and be off for six months. It was gradual. At first, I was in shock and disbelief. I questioned if I really wasn’t at UFC level.”

“At points, I tried and couldn’t, but my master insisted I kept watching. When it was over, it was like a door was open. We hugged, we cried. He said he always knew of my potential and that he knew if I was OK it would have been a different fight.”

Although Priscila recognizes she could have lost the fight even if she didn’t hurt herself in the first round, she claims there could’ve been at least a fighting chance without it.

““I could have lost anyway, but it would have been a war,” Cachoeira said. “I’m sure it would have been different, because everything that happened there was exactly what I’d trained for. But I didn’t have a knee to finish my movements. So what did I do? I just defended myself.”

Even though many pundits were eager to put the blame on referee’s Mario Yamasaki inability to stop the fight any sooner once Cachoeira started taking too many shots, Priscila does not believe she was ever fully out of the fight.

““Every time Mario yelled, ‘If you don’t move, I’ll end the fight.’ I found a way to move and show I was still in the fight. Because the true warrior will never quit. That’s what happened.”

Now, thinking of getting her career back on track, Priscila does not rule out a potential rematch with Valentina Shevchenko in the future. But first, she would like to climb up the division before taking on ‘Bullet’ again.

“I’m sure I’ll be back and I’ll even ask for the rematch,” Cachoeira said. “I want to do a few fights first. Before the rematch, I want to return and do my real UFC debut. My comeback will be my actual debut, because I will be at 100 percent an able to show what I’m capable of. After I do two or three fights, I’ll ask for a rematch, that’s for sure. I’m recovering to show the world who’s the real ‘Pedrita.’”

Priscila Cachoeira (8-1) was undefeated until her UFC debut. She had eight wins in the Brazilian regional circuit, four of which she won by way of knockout.