Da Silva lands biggest shot yet
6 February 2015
KATE Da Silva has cracked it.
This week the 32-year-old Kawerau mixed martial arts fighter made her first signing with a major international promotion.
Da Silva signed a two-year, six-fight deal with Xtreme Fighting Championships who are based in the United States, Brazil and Argentina.
Da Silva expected her first fight with the promotion to be in April or May in Brazil. She said the fight will have special significance as her husband, and trainer, Roney Da Silva is from Brazil.
Da Silva said making the deal with XFC happened quickly.
“They messaged me last week on Facebook and said we are looking to give me a contract, so they sent a proposal.
“I was in the process of trying to sign with another promotion.
“We talked about it a bit and I couldn’t believe I had been approached.
“My husband looked into it and he said we could not let this opportunity go to waste.”
Da Silva will fight in the flyweight division and was rapt to take a massive step in her career.
“Fighting in the UFC is still the ultimate goal, but they don’t have a flyweight division yet.
“I’m pretty hard on myself and I’m always pushing myself to be better.
“I have come so far in the past two years.
“I have trained more and it is also a real mental game.
“Believing in myself more has been a big part of it too.
“No matter where you train, you might be in a little shed, it is the quality not the amount of people you have.”
Da Silva said in Brazil, she will be fighting in front of a television audience of 11 million people.
“The idea of fighting in Brazil is awesome.
“As well a my husband’s home country and it is the birth place of MMA.
“I want to get to the belt, that is my goal. I am already training my ass off.
“I might even need to work part time to concentrate on it. This is a career now and I will have to change some things.”
While Da Silva’s preference for the ground-based attack has been a big part of her success she said it was a mistake to focus on one style.
“I have been working hard for ages on my stand-up and I am not going to change my game plan.
“But I am enjoying the stand-up side so I am hoping to showcase that.
“I am always looking to improve everything though.
“Being in Brazil there is likely to be more ground-based fighting, but in saying that it does change fighter to fighter so you have to be prepared for a lot.”
Da Silva will fight in Brisbane against Australian newcomer Terissa Wall in three weeks in what will be her final independent fight before joining XFC.
Source: Whakatane Beacon