Cassia Moura says she felt her foot in the first round against Fornarino: “I don’t care for my foot right now”

Cassia Moura left the UFC BJJ 12 main event with two belts and an ice pack on her foot. At the press conference after the event, on Thursday, October 8, in Las Vegas, the 20-year-old Brazilian said she felt Adele Fornarino’s leg attack at the end of the first round and decided not to think about it until the match was over.

“She got my foot right there on the first round. I felt a little bit and I say, ‘Okay, I have to go back much stronger in the second round,’” Moura said. “I don’t care for my foot right now. Is for the belt, so I have to give my 100%.”

The champion said that training through injuries helped her in that moment. “When me training I hurt something and then I keep training, I don’t stop. So I think this helped me a lot,” she said. About her recovery, she said she expects to be back to normal in one week.

“I was attacking all the time”

The win came by split decision, and Moura described what she told her coach, Bruno Bastos, while they waited for the result. She said she knew the first round had gone to Fornarino. “I think I pushed the pace whole time,” she said about the rest of the match. “I was attacking all the time. So I take her down, I pass, I pass and then she turn to turtle, I took her back.”

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She said the change came between rounds, when her coach told her she had maybe lost the first one. “I’m just going to fight to get a good position, to get a submission. I’m not going to stop,” she said.

Her plan was to tire the Australian out. “I felt I was a little bit stronger and faster than her. So I say, okay, I just have to push, push, make her tired so I can open space and then I can maybe get on her back or get on the submission,” she said.

An apology for the eye poke

Moura also talked about the moment when she hit Fornarino in the eye during the match. “I say sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to poke her eye.” She explained that her thumb went into Fornarino’s eye by accident when she pushed her head. “I didn’t mean do that. I say sorry and I say, okay, I have to be careful right now.”

Claudia Gadelha wants the rematch

UFC BJJ president Claudia Gadelha opened the press conference and said what the champion’s next step should be. “Who doesn’t want to watch Cassia Moura, right? We all do. So we’ll have to go back to the matchmaking room on Tuesday and think about what we’ll do next. But I think the right thing to do is to run this one back and have a rematch between her and Adele,” she said.

Gadelha said she had not talked to Fornarino yet. “I understand her frustration. I’ve been there. I lost split decisions before,” she said. She explained that the organization meets with its judges and referees every Wednesday to review the matches, and pointed out that in UFC BJJ the athletes are judged by people from jiu-jitsu. The format of title matches is the subject of Are three rounds enough to decide a title?

The executive also recalled a conversation with Bruno Bastos when Moura was promoted. “Cassia went from blue belt to black belt very, very fast, and I remember watching Bruno doing that to Cassia and I asked him, ‘Bruno, are you sure?’ And he was like, ‘She’s different, believe me, she’s different,’” Gadelha said. “We gave her Ffion, we gave her the best in the world, and she kept beating people. So that proves that she’s different. She deserves to be a double champion.”

“I’m only 20”

With two titles to defend, at flyweight (125 pounds) and bantamweight (135 pounds), Moura said she wants to come back soon. “It’s going to be busy, but I’m only 20,” she said. “I’m ready to come back.”

She also talked about what the night meant. “Now everybody know, the girls know they can do as well, and I’m so happy and grateful to have the opportunity I had today,” she said about being part of the first women’s main event in UFC BJJ. Asked about her age, she said she is changing her family’s life and her own life with her work.

Moura and Fornarino also won performance bonuses for the match.

Should Cassia Moura and Adele Fornarino have an immediate rematch? Leave your opinion in the comments.