Six years later, Dione Barbosa and Karine Silva will once again meet inside a cage to fight, this time under the bright lights of the UFC, when the octagon lands Aug. 16 in Chicago for UFC 319.

“The Witch” Barbosa was 2-0 as a professional when her coach received an offer to fly to Parana and face local talent Karine Silva at Katana Fight 9. Silva held a 9-3 record at the time, and Barbosa came out victorious via unanimous decision after three rounds.

Looking back in time, Barbosa feels she was brought in to lose to Silva in Parana.

“I always see myself as the underdog, against all odds,” Barbosa told MMA Fighting. “That motivates me, gives me that extra push. But to your point, yes [I was brought to lose]. But I just wanted to fight and test myself.”

Silva would win her next nine fights, including one Dana White’s Contender Series appearance and four bouts in the UFC cage, and Barbosa would need to wait two more years to finally get her shot.

Silva has gone 4-1 in the UFC with first-round finishes over Poliana Botelho, Ketlen Souza and Maryna Moroz, but lost her most recent one in a decision against Viviane Araujo. Barbosa won two of three in the UFC, including a recent bonus-winning arm-triangle choke victory over Diana Belbita.

“I remember a lot [from that fight],” Barbosa said. “The plan back then was to always use my grappling. I had nothing, nothing on the feet. I had just started training boxing — and it was boxing training focused on closing the distance for the takedown. My first amateur MMA fight was after a month of hitting pads, only. Everything happened so fast.

“But I remember we stayed on the ground for a long time, stuck on that boring 50-50, because we were both grapplers. In my head, I thought she would come to trade on the feet since she had more experience, she was more comfortable than me there. In my head, I would grapple her to death [laughs]. Stay there and try to always be on top position. Grappling in MMA was something new for me.”

They are two completely different fighters six years later, and Barbosa won’t enter the cage expecting an easy win just because she has already beaten “Killer” once.

“We’ve fought before, but I’m mature enough to know it’s [six] years ago and we’ve evolved,” Barbosa said. “She was in the UFC before me, she has more experience. I fought her in my third MMA fight and she had 12, 13 fights, something like that. When they sent me that fight at the time I was like, ‘I’ll fight her or I won’t fight anyone.’ No one wanted to fight me at the time. There were no girls to fight, so I said, ‘Let’s go.’”

Barbosa said she didn’t feel jealous to watch a fighter she beat make it to the UFC first. Instead, she looked as inspiration — and a message that “it’s a matter of time” until she got the call, too.

“She has evolved so much in the UFC, and that has definitely given her toughness,”Barbosa said. “I see great evolution in her. She’s way more complete as an athlete now. Going to Fighting Nerds may have improved a lot her game, too.”

“As for myself, I see me as a completely different athlete today,” she continued. “Better in every single aspect, especially in feeling comfortable inside the octagon, which is something that takes time. … I imagine this being a three-round war, and I’m ready for this. Our first fight was like that, and we’re both in different places, better physically and technically better. [When they offered me] I was like, ‘Let’s break each other more.’ [laughs]”