{"id":149818,"date":"2026-03-27T07:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T07:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/149818\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T07:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T07:04:17","slug":"ariane-lipski-da-silva-approaches-pfl-pittsburgh-debut-at-peace-with-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/149818\/","title":{"rendered":"Ariane Lipski da Silva approaches PFL Pittsburgh debut at peace with the past"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nAriane
\nLipski da Silva<\/a>\u2019s long tenure in the
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> did not end as she had hoped,
\nbut it certainly did not prevent her from pursuing opportunities
\nelsewhere.<\/p>\n

The former
\nKonfrontacja Sztuk Walki<\/a> champion will make her
\nProfessional Fighters League<\/a> debut when she meets Sumiko
\nInaba<\/a> in a
\nPFL Pittsburgh<\/a> women\u2019s flyweight feature on Saturday at the
\nUPMC Events Center. Lipski da Silva enters the cage on a
\nthree-fight losing streak. She closed out her UFC run with a 6-8
\nrecord but sounds like a woman with few regrets.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI stayed busy, always accepting every challenge, believing I could
\nreach a higher spot in the UFC,\u201d Lipski da Silva told Sherdog.com.
\n\u201cI always gave my best, despite any physical or mental challenges.
\nI made it a point not to turn down any opponents and to always be
\nfighting. My team and I always gave everything. Looking back, half
\nof my career was in the UFC. I managed to make it to the Top 12
\nposition. I\u2019ve learned many lessons and gained valuable experience,
\nwhich will help me face my next challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inaba stands as the Brazilian\u2019s first test in the PFL. \u201cLady
\nSamurai\u201d last fought at PFL Champions Series 2, where she dropped a
\nunanimous decision to unbeaten promotional cornerstone Dakota
\nDitcheva<\/a> on July 19. Inaba, 35, has never been finished in 10
\nbouts as a pro.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a lot of grit, a lot of heart, but I believe that I\u2019m much
\nmore experienced, stronger and have better technique,\u201d Lipski da
\nSilva said. \u201cThe fans should enjoy a very active fight. I know that
\nshe\u2019s tough, and that Ditcheva broke her hand and was still unable
\nto knock Sumiko out.\u201d<\/p>\n

A
\nhigh-stakes middleweight clash headlines PFL Pittsburgh: Tune in
\nLIVE, Saturday, March 28 at 10 p.m. ET<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lipski da Silva has not competed since she wound up on the wrong
\nside of a unanimous verdict against Cong Wang<\/a> at
\nUFC 316 nearly a year ago. Wang outstruck her by a 147-65 margin in
\nthe 15-minute affair. Da Silva checked in at six pounds overweight
\nfor the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a problem with my weight,\u201d she said. \u201cDuring my camp, I
\nlearned that I had a prolactinoma, which is a benign pituitary
\ntumor. I had an MRI to identify the issue. I decided to see a
\nspecialist after my fight camp since my doctor said I could still
\nfight. We focused on my recovery during training camp in an attempt
\nto keep my cortisol levels low. Unfortunately, weight cuts are
\nalways very stressful. Instead of leaving the weight cut
\nresponsibility to my coach [and husband], Renato
\nSilva<\/a>, we entrusted a specialist to guide us through it, but
\nthere was a miscalculation and too much weight had to be lost at
\nthe very end. I stopped sweating and started having dehydration
\nsymptoms. We spoke to the UFC medical staff and discussed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very thankful that my opponent understood,\u201d Lipski da Silva
\nadded. \u201cDuring the fight, she took me out of my game early on via
\ncalf strikes. I was forced to switch stances, but I still fought
\nwith all my heart. I couldn\u2019t fight as well as I\u2019d wished, and
\nunfortunately, the UFC cut me after that. Every fight had its
\nlesson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Passion rediscovered
\n
\nLipski da Silva, who turned 32 in January, took advantage of her
\ntime off.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis period without a fight has been very good for me,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cI took the time to take care of my health with medical
\nspecialists. At first, I wasn\u2019t sure if I should continue fighting,
\nbut I kept training and I noticed that without a specific opponent
\nin mind, I learned to love it again. I found renewed joy in the
\ndiscipline of martial arts and competition. That\u2019s when the
\nopportunity in the PFL came about. I trained well, with a good
\nrhythm, without forcing anything. I was able to renew myself and
\nput emphasis on my grappling, which is something I never had the
\ntime for in the UFC. I look forward to seeing how I\u2019ve
\nevolved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lipski da Silva believes she can make serious waves in the PFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the PFL now has fixed weight classes with rankings instead
\nof simply running tournaments, I can see my path to the belt,\u201d she
\nsaid, \u201cbut my focus right now is on having a great debut. Then
\nwe\u2019ll take it one step at a time.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ariane Lipski da Silva\u2019s long tenure in the Ultimate Fighting Championship did not end as she had hoped,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1165,139,73,75,74,68393],"class_list":["post-149818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-article","tag-news","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-womenu2019s-mma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}