She’s Next – WMMA Weekly Preview
Each week, I’ll highlight one women prospect on my radar and in action in the upcoming days
Lana Karine
Record: 2-0
Weight Class: Flyweight
Age: 22 years old
Training: Fight Leste
Combined opponents’ record: 1-0
Born on April 23, 2003, Lana Karine is a part of the new generation of Brazilian women entering mixed martial arts through the country’s dense regional circuit and standing 5’5’’ with a 67-inch reach and competing in the flyweight division. She fights out of São Paulo, a city that has long been a central hub for Brazilian MMA development. Still in her early twenties, Karine began building her résumé in local promotions around the São Paulo region. She progressed through the amateur ranks before transitioning to professional competition in 2025.
Karine’s amateur days took place in São Paulo, where she compiled an undefeated run that helped her gain early attention from local observers. Her first recorded amateur appearance was in July 2023 at Fight Leste 7, where she secured a first-round anaconda choke victory over Kristiany Carvalho.
Among the notable stops in that amateur stretch were appearances under the SFT banner, one of Brazil’s more visible domestic promotions. In September 2023, she earned a unanimous decision over Vívian Nepomuceno at SFT 42, followed in April 2024 by another victory in the same promotion, a second-round TKO over Yara Antunes. By the time her amateur tenure concluded, Karine had built a multi-fight winning streak and gained experience fighting several times within the same regional ecosystem in São Paulo.
Karine made her professional debut in April 2025 at MMA University 1. She submitted Grazi Gouveia with an RNC in the opening round. Later that year, she returned to action at Shooto Brasil 133, another established organization within the Brazilian MMA landscape. She again finished her opponent early with an RNC against Ethiene Pereira. Those two victories established her as a prospect to watch and gave her notable momentum for what’s coming next.
Despite having only a handful of professional bouts, Karine has stayed active across several Brazilian promotions, continuing to sharpen her skills within the country’s deep grassroots MMA scene. Her trajectory reflects a familiar path for emerging Brazilian prospects—building experience on the regional circuit while steadily positioning herself for opportunities beyond the domestic stage.
Karine is scheduled to return to action this Friday at Shooto Brasil 135, which will take place at the Upper Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Her opponent will be Natacha Lima (3-4), who won 3 fights in a row, and is fighting out of Tropa Thai in Rio.
From a technical standpoint, Karine profiles as a grappler first, but one who already shows a relatively balanced toolkit for such an early stage of development. Despite holding only a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, her grappling instincts are clearly her most dangerous weapon. She’s particularly opportunistic when opponents expose their back, and her rear-naked choke has already proven to be a consistent finishing tool. If an opponent gives her the neck, the sequence usually ends quickly. Her back takes are sharp, and she transitions efficiently once the position is secured, demonstrating good awareness of finishing opportunities.
What makes her interesting, however, is that she is not approaching MMA as a pure jiu-jitsu specialist. Karine trains extensively in boxing and Muay Thai, and it shows in the way she manages distance and initiates exchanges. She uses feints effectively, stays calm under pressure, and generally prefers to take the center of the cage rather than conceding space. For someone whose main path to victory is grappling, her defensive striking is solid, and she rarely looks panicked on the feet. She applies forward pressure, mixes in knees in the clinch, and looks for opportunistic entries into takedowns. Her blast double is particularly explosive, and she has several takedown options in her arsenal. When the fight hits the floor, she can also deliver ground-and-pound if the opportunity presents itself.
The limitations are also visible. Karine is still extremely green, and some of her habits will likely be punished by more experienced opponents. She tends to absorb too many leg kicks, occasionally backs up in a straight line when pressured, and sometimes overextends while striking once she becomes comfortable. Her wrestling control could also use refinement, especially when it comes to keeping opponents grounded after the initial takedown. Cardio remains another open question at the professional level.
It’s important to keep the level of opposition in perspective. Karine has not yet faced high-level competition, but she has not been fed obvious can-crushing matchups either. Her opponents so far have largely mirrored her own experience level, which is exactly what you would expect for a prospect still at the 1-0 or 2-0 stage of a career. As a result, the evaluation remains surface-level for now, but the early tools are clearly visible.