Las Vegas — Strawweight Ketlen Souza put an exclamation mark on her rematch with Ariane Carnelossi at UFC Vegas 118, finishing her fellow Brazilian for the second time.
This time, at the Meta Apex on Saturday, it was a head kick that sparked the finish. Speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press following a big victory, Souza (17-6) was beaming.
“I’m really happy. How can you not be after a knockout like that?” she exclaimed.
Souza’s aggression was apparent throughout the fight. “I need to come back to my essence, I’m very aggressive, that’s why they call me ‘Esquentadinha,’ which means ‘heated,’” she noted. “So I needed to come back to my essence and be aggressive.”
That aggression paid off, as Souza caught Carnelossi with a kick on the way up from being rocked moments earlier. It was shades of the pair’s first encounter back in 2019, which Ketlen Souza won via body kick.
Moving forward, Souza has a bigger name in mind. A former strawweight champion, in fact: Jessica Andrade.
“I hope I do another fight in 2026, I hope it’s Jessica Andrade. I want to fight people that bring out the best in me, so that’s why I’m asking for that fight,” Souza stated.
Watch the full UFC Vegas 118 post-fight press conference with Ketlen Souza above.