Written by Denise Gomes kicks Karolina Kowalkiewicz | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
25-year-old strawweight Denise Gomes was hyped up in the UFC after scoring back-to-back knockouts against Bruna Brasil and Yazmin Jauregui in 2023, the latter in just 20 seconds, and then lost to experienced veteran Angela Hill.
And that setback changed her approach to the game.
Gomes rebounded with a pair of decisions over Eduarda Moura and Karolina Kowalkiewicz to go 4-2 in the company and 10-3 overall as a pro fighter, and sees her 115-pound clash with Elise Reed on May 17 as another opportunity to grow as an athlete.
“I’m getting better, and I’m thinking about the future,” Gomes told MMA Fighting ahead of UFC Vegas 106. “I had a huge heart but I wasn’t mature or smart, so I was looking for that now. That’s the Karolina fight. People said, ‘Oh, you could have knocked her out.’ I really could, but maybe if I looked so much for the knockout I wouldn’t have evolved as much as I think I did. I’m trying to become a complete fighter. I’m working hard behind the curtains. I have to test myself. Like it or not, I have to think about the future. Maybe people don’t get that. Because I have a big knockout power, that’s all I have to use? I have to work to become a complete fighter.”
Reed, a former Cage Fury strawweight champion with a past win over Jasmine Jasudavicius, has been bouncing between wins and losses in the company from the start. In her most recent match, the 32-year-old scored a decision over Jessica Penne to improve to 4-4 in the UFC.
Gomes sees evolution in her own game, but it’s still a long process.
“These last couple of fights were very good for me because it gave me confidence, but I’m still on that path,” Gomes said. “One step after the other. I’m not aiming at money, I’m not aiming at rankings, I’m aiming at becoming better than I was in my last fight because I know the rest is consequence. For this year, that’s the bigger goal as an athlete and a person.”
At the same time MMA is a sport, it’s also entertainment. Gomes knows that putting on performances that may be perceived as unexciting could hurt her brand in the long term. She asks fans to be patient, though.
“It’s especially hard because of the boos,” Gomes said. “People like to see fighters literally breaking each other in there. And we like that, too. And when it’s time for us to grapple instead of trading on the feet, people boo. At that moment you need to have self-control and be like, ‘No, I’m fighting for me first, and then for the fans.’ But that will all have a purpose in the future.”
Gomes is still in a “transition” from all-action entertainer to well-rounded athlete, but feels confident enough to finally say she’s a MMA fighter now. With a win Saturday, Gomes plans to ask the UFC for a slot on a card on the road to put herself out of the comfort zone and in front of a larger audience away from the APEX.
“I’m showing that every time I fight, that I’m not just a striker,” Gomes said. “My motto is aggressiveness with intelligence. Aggressiveness brought me here, but I believe that that alone won’t take me where I want to go. That’s what separates the ones at the top. I think I have that aggressiveness and I’m a bit smarter for this fight.
“I don’t think [Reed] will last three rounds because I have a good eye for a knockout, but I can also grapple. I wanna go in there and feel the fight and be in control. The knockouts I had were pure instinct — with intelligence, too. But I want more. I’m not happy with only that. The fights I lost pushed me to think, ‘What if the strategy doesn’t work, what am I going to do?’ I was underestimated before and I don’t underestimate anyone, but I know myself. I know I have the means to finish her.”