Smilla Sundell is in the UFC. The 21-year-old Swede beat Aline Pereira by unanimous decision Tuesday night at Dana White’s Contender Series, and White handed her a contract afterward. Pereira, the sister of Alex Pereira, left the Meta Apex in Las Vegas without one.
All three judges scored it 29-28 for Sundell in a women’s bantamweight fight that was the second-to-last bout of the night. It was the final episode of the 10th Contender Series season. Bloody Elbow reported the result and the signing, and MiddleEasy and the BBC also covered the outcome.
The Pereira side brought heavy artillery to the corner. Poatan himself was back there, along with Glover Teixeira, which is about as loaded a cornerman pairing as you’ll see at a tryout show. It didn’t flip a single round on the cards.
Sundell’s résumé is the reason White was willing to fast-track her. She held a ONE Championship Muay Thai title at 18 and won 36 of her 41 professional fights in that sport, with wins over Jackie Buntan and Allycia Hellen Rodrigues. She only moved to MMA this year, stopping two opponents by TKO under the Tuff-N-Uff banner, one in January and one in June. Tuesday was her third MMA fight. She’s still unbeaten.
Pereira came in on a bit of a run. She fought on Ronda Rousey’s undercard on Netflix in May and took a split decision to move to 3-2. The loss drops her to 3-3, and her plan of joining her brother on the UFC roster is on hold for now.
Sundell was one of four fighters signed out of 10 who competed on the card. Luis Francischinelli, Douglas da Lapa and Greg Foster also got the nod.
The contract didn’t land with universal applause. Bloody Elbow rounded up a stack of social media reaction, and a good chunk of it argued that White pulled the trigger too early. One fan wrote, “I’m a fan of Sundell but she so clearly needs more cage experience. Like a few more fights worth.” Another put it more bluntly: “No way you look at Sundell and think she deserves a contract.” A third gave her credit while still voting no: “I didn’t think Sundell was ready before the fight and I still don’t think she is. Her credentials are obviously incredible and she won clearly, but I really think that in a perfect world she wouldn’t have been here until she was 5-0.”
The criticism has some weight. Bloody Elbow called the performance something short of her best, and fans pointed to the gap between her Muay Thai and how smoothly it translates inside a cage. Three 29-28 cards means she won. They also mean she didn’t run anybody over.
I’m with White on this one, though. A kid with 41 pro Muay Thai fights and a ONE belt isn’t green in any way that a sixth regional fight in a half-empty casino ballroom will fix. Her striking is already elite, and what she needs now is reps against bigger wrestlers and smarter clinch fighters. She’ll get those faster in the UFC than at Tuff-N-Uff. She also just beat a Pereira with Poatan barking instructions 10 feet away, which is not a bad thing to have on your tape at 21.
