Amanda Lemos says UFC 298 win over Mackenzie Dern was exactly how she drew it up: “The way that we thought this was going to happen is what happened”

Amanda Lemos is riding high after scoring a unanimous decision victory over Mackenzie Dern at UFC 298.

Lemos had been coming off a failed bid for the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship back in August 2023. While Lemos was clearly outmatched by Zhang Weili, she gutted it out for five rounds. The Brazilian bruiser had quite the rebound fight, demonstrating her superb striking against Dern this past Saturday night. Lemos earned the unanimous decision win, and a “Fight of the Night” bonus.

For Lemos, everything went according to plan on fight night.

RELATED: MACKENZIE DERN ISSUES STATEMENT FOLLOWING LOSS TO AMANDA LEMOS AT UFC 298

Amanda Lemos Relishes UFC 298 Victory

During her media scrum with reporters on Saturday night, Amanda Lemos said that everything fans saw on display during her fight with Mackenzie Dern was how it was designed in her training camp (h/t MMAJunkie).

“I’m feeling happy about tonight and I’m happy to be back in the win column,” Lemos told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference. “… The way that we thought this was going to happen is what happened.

“The fight stayed standing as much as possible, trying to impose my game and avoid her and to avoid the possibility of her imposing her game, which is taking me down. (I tried) getting up as soon as possible and damage her. When I was taken down, there wasn’t much damage, so I was able to get up and continue kicking and just continue to do my game, which is what I did.”

Lemos went on to say that she learned quite a bit after suffering the loss to Weili in her first UFC title fight. Lemos said her goal is to continue evolving in the gym and show that she’s still very much in the 115-pound title picture despite the lopsided defeat last year.