Vanessa Demopoulos wants to enter the rankings

Vanessa Demopoulos feels more comfortable and confident in her position as a UFC fighter than ever before and believes she is about to begin her journey to the top of the strawweight division.

With five wins in her last six Octagon appearances, Demopoulos (11-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) hopes to keep her momentum going when she faces Jaqueline Amorim (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 242, which takes place Sept. 7 at UFC Apex in Las Vegas (ESPN+).

Demopoulos doesn't have any premature expectations about her career, but she sees great things ahead if she continues on her current path.

“I have extreme power – my skills are just incredible – I'm an incredible martial artist,” Demopoulos told MMA Junkie Radio. “I'm very complete. I have a high-level black belt in jiu-jitsu, I can throw high-level punches. I'm better than the strikers and better than the wrestlers. I compete against world-class people in every field and beat them every time. I feel like I'm extremely versatile, but for this division, I'm also extremely strong.

“I think I have a few more fights to go before I start thinking about champion status. First I want to get ranked. That would be nice. Then I can start preparing for bigger goals like this.”

Demopoulos, 35, started her MMA career a little late but has caught up well. She said she was “very excited” about the task of facing Amorim, who is also a former LFA champion and has a similar background in competitive jiu-jitsu and grappling.

Although Amorim has had the more successful grappling career, Demopoulos said she is not afraid of anything her opponent throws at her.

“I didn't even hesitate (to accept the fight),” Demopoulos said. “I was immediately like, 'Yes. Give her to me. Please. Sign me up.' I know she was also an LFA champion and I was an LFA champion before that. We both come from the jiu-jitsu scene. She has more accolades from winning world titles than I have, and that's cool. But I've won a medal in almost every world title I've competed in. I took a slightly different path than she did. She stayed in the jiu-jitsu community and I started to focus more on MMA.”

For more information on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 242.