Valesca Machado has spent a decade doing things the hard way. Twelve fights in Brazil before anyone in North America noticed. A Contender Series shot that ended with the other woman getting the contract. A title won on a night when she had to beat two people to keep it. Then a move to California and a promise she made out loud, on camera, that she would not fly back to Brazil until the UFC handed her a deal.
Most fans know her as Tina Black. That is the name on the Invicta FC belt, the name on the A1 Combat strap, and the name Daniel Cormier called out first when he made his No. 1 women’s pick on The Ultimate Fighter 34.
The Lowdown
Brazilian, out of Rio de Janeiro, born 6 May 1996. Strawweight, 5ft 4in, orthodox. Pro since 2016 with a 15-4 record and one no contest, five of those wins by knockout, one by submission. She has never been stopped. Every loss on the sheet came on the judges’ cards. Training base is Urijah Faber’s gym in Sacramento, and Faber is the coach she works with outside the TUF house. Former Invicta FC Strawweight champion, current A1 Combat Strawweight champion, Contender Series alumna, and the 2022 Cageside Press Women’s Strawweight Prospect of the Year.
A Muay Thai Gym Around the Corner
The family had nothing to spare. She has said as much herself, plainly, in a interview with Lance! after she won the Invicta belt: everyone worked, and everyone worked hard, just to keep going.
The way in was a muay thai class at a gym near the house, run by her brother-in-law. She did not want to go. She went anyway. She called it love at first sight.
That is the part of the story she keeps coming back to. She was carrying a lot around at the time, and the gym gave her somewhere to put it.
By 14 or 15 she was already competing, taking her first fight under kickboxing rules. The MMA debut came on 30 January 2016 against Nayara Hemily, and the result went into the books as a no contest, which is a strange way to open a career and a fitting one for a fighter whose record has never been tidy.
From Tina Silva to Tina Black
The nickname started at home. Her brother called her Tinininha when she was small, and Tina stuck as she got older. She fought her early bouts as Tina Silva.
The change came from a training partner. Former UFC fighter Poliana Botelho told her to drop the Silva and go with Black, a reference to the big afro Machado had at the time. Everybody assumes it is about her skin. It was about her hair first.
It stopped being only about hair very quickly. She has been open about being a black woman and a lesbian in Brazilian combat sports, about the different set of doors that opens and closes as a result, about years spent feeling like she was swimming against the tide. Speaking to MMA Fighting during the TUF season, she framed the name as a flag she wants other people to pick up too.
Two Fights, One Night, One Belt
She built an 8-2 run in Brazil, including a win over future UFC fighter Julia Polastri, before the call came for Dana White’s Contender Series in October 2021. The opponent was Piera Rodriguez, unbeaten and heavily backed. Machado took the fight to her, had her best moments late and lost a decision. Rodriguez got signed. Machado went back to the regional circuit.
She beat Ediana Silva on a split decision. Then, later the same evening, she beat Karolina Wójcik to take the belt. Thirty minutes of cage time in one night to become champion.
Denver, and a Birthday Ruined
The first defence went badly. Danni McCormack came to Invicta FC 52 in March 2023, took the fight on the cards over three rounds and won the title on her own birthday. Machado had gone from unknown Brazilian import to champion in six months and lost the belt in her first outing with it.
Then came the quiet stretch. Bookings came and went. She did not fight again for eleven months.
The comeback was ugly in the best sense. At Urijah Faber’s A1 Combat 18 in February 2024 she met unbeaten Taylor Mauldin and needed 49 seconds, dropping her with a flurry that left Mauldin face-down on the canvas and picked up a knockout-of-the-year shout in the process. She left with the A1 Combat Strawweight title. Two more Invicta wins followed that year, decisions over Yulia Ostroverkhova in August and Yasmin Castanho in December.
Then 2025 came and went without a fight.
Sacramento, and a Promise
By then she had already uprooted her life. She moved to California to train under Urijah Faber, swapping Rio for a Sacramento gym room full of small, fast fighters who have been solving the same puzzle for twenty years. Faber has been her coach ever since, close enough to the TUF process that Michael Bisping conned him into leaking her weaknesses by pretending she was on Team Bisping.
She has said she is not going back to Brazil until she has a UFC contract. That is not a soundbite she has softened. Asked on the show about her situation, she put it another way: they will only take her out of there dead.
Inside the TUF House
Cormier took her first among the women. She justified it in the quarter-final against fellow Brazilian Natalia Alves, who came in unbeaten at 8-0 with a wrestling-heavy game plan and never got near executing it. Machado stuffed the takedowns, punished her on the feet and finished her with knees and punches in the second round.
The semi-final was harder, and it was against a friend. Delphine Benouaich, also Team Cormier, took her back in the first round and made her work to get up. Machado carried her across the cage to escape, found her right hand around the 90-second mark of the second and took over from there, outmuscling the French striker in the clinch through a third round broken up by a low blow and an eye poke. Unanimous decision. Dana White called it a great fight from cageside, and Cageside Press rated it the best of the season to that point.
The other thing that stood out that week had nothing to do with fighting. She broke down on the phone home before the bout, told her mother that everything she was doing was for her, and later told the camera that her family is everything to her.
Where She Stands Now
The TUF 34 Strawweight final lands on 26 September at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, where she meets Team Cormier teammate Melissa Amaya, the unbeaten Combate Global product who submitted Gigi Canuto‘s route to the final shut. Both fighters were coached by Cormier all season. Only one leaves with the six-figure deal and the tournament win.
Machado goes in as the most experienced woman left in the bracket and the one with the longest list of near-misses behind her. Five years since the Contender Series. Two belts won outside the UFC. One flight home she is still refusing to book.
Valesca Machado MMA Record and Fighter Stats
Name
Valesca Machado
Nationality
Brazilian
Weight Class
Women’s Strawweight
Date of Birth
6 May 1996 (Age 30)
Height
5’4″
Pro Record
15-4, 1 NC. 5 wins by KO, 1 win by submission
UFC Record
0-0
Recent Fight Record
DateEventOpponentResultMethod
13-Dec-24Invicta FC 59Yasmin CastanhoWUnanimous Decision
9-Aug-24Invicta FC 56Yulia OstroverkhovaWUnanimous Decision
22-Feb-24Uriah Faber’s A1 Combat 18Taylor MauldinW1st Round KO
15-Mar-23Invicta FC 52Danni McCormackLUnanimous Decision
16-Nov-22Invicta FC 50Karolina WojcikWUnanimous Decision
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