Preview: UFC 319 Prelims

Women’s Flyweights

Karine Silva (18-5, 4-1 UFC) vs. Dione Barbosa (8-3, 2-1 UFC)

BETTING ODDS: Silva (-218), Barbosa (+180)

Silva’s hype train was suddenly derailed with her last loss, so “Killer” looks to regain some steam in this outing. Silva was a perfectly fine flier for the UFC to take after her 2021 win on Dana White’s Contender Series, even if she didn’t seem poised for much success. Her regional record saw her fall short against most of her steps up in competition, and she even accomplished little in that Contender Series win until she suddenly ended the fight with a guillotine choke. However, Silva’s opportunistic approach turned out to be much more effective than expected, as she quickly found submission wins in subsequent fights against Poliana Botelho, Ketlen Souza and Maryna Moroz, the last of which avenged one of her regional defeats. Silva got some steps up in competition in 2024, and that’s where things started to fall apart a bit. She stayed ahead of Ariane Lipski da Silva athletically in an ugly decision win, but she put on her worst performance in her most prominent spot to date, tiring out and looking terrible down the stretch in a loss to Viviane Araujo. Nine months later, Silva looks to redeem herself—from the Araujo defeat, and with this being another rematch of a loss on the regional scene—against Barbosa, who looks to be putting things together.

A former standout grappler, Barbosa has the game that would be expected from her background, as she has looked to fill out her wrestling and striking skills before her athleticism fades. To that end, “The Witch” has done well, proving to be consistent enough in her power and pressure to win rounds, even if she hasn’t scored as many submissions as one might expect. After testing herself in a late-notice spot against Miranda Maverick a shade over a year ago, Barbosa got her first UFC finish against Diana Belbita in April, earning her this opportunity. Silva could gut this out by making it ugly and leveraging a clear speed advantage on the feet, but given her proclivity for submission hunting, she might just walk her way into a losing fight against Barbosa, who figures to both be capable of neutralizing her grappling and strong enough to control rounds with wrestling if things go awry. That’s only bolstered by the fact that Barbosa has won this fight once before. The pick is Barbosa via decision.



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