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Ariane Carnelossi battled through more than just her opponent at UFC 261.
We're now four weeks removed from the April 24 event where the 5-foot-2 Brazilian powerhouse achieved her first career UFC win. Yet she hasn't left Jacksonville as she's been immobilized more than your typical post-fight soreness will leave oneself in the aftermath.
Carnelossi and Liang Na went to war in a chaotic first round that kicked off the night of action at the first UFC event with a full crowd since the world shut down. Heading into the contest, Carnelossi had a lingering herniated disc that flared up to a brutal extent during the week. Thus resulting in her gameplan being somewhat shifted toward trying to keep things standing as much as possible.
Things didn't quite work out that way as the fight saw ground warfare aplenty after taking a thumping right hand almost instantly. The Muay Thai specialist inevitably persevered through the intense pain to finish Liang in round two with ground and pound strikes.
"We weren't able to maintain the gameplan and strategy but I was very happy with the result," Carnelossi told MyMMANews. "I had never had a fight that had been on the ground that way so I was really happy to see how prepared I was in all forms of fighting.
"It was an enormous relief [just getting back in there]. It was almost two years without fighting so I was going crazy cause of that. I really needed to fight and I was eager to fight before but it wasn't really possible so during fight week I resisted any difficulties because I was completely determined to be able to fight."
Continued: Ariane Carnelossi overcame adversity to achieve chaotic first UFC victory