Vanessa Porto


Vanessa Alessandra Teixeira Porto is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and amateur boxer who competes in the Invicta Fighting Championships flyweight division.

Background

Porto grew up in Jaú, São Paulo in a family of soccer players. She had an appreciation for martial arts from a young age and started to practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 2004. She is currently married to her trainer Pedro Iglesias.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Porto began her professional MMA career in 2005. She initially fought only for Brazilian promotions such as Storm Samurai and Champions Night and faced opponents including Carina Damm, Cris Cyborg and Brazilian kickboxing champion Juliana Werner Aguiar. She defeated Aguiar on three occasions.
With a record of five wins and two losses, Porto signed with the U.S.-based Fatal Femmes Fighting promotion.

Fatal Femmes Fighting and Revolution Fight Club

Porto made her FFF debut against Tonya Evinger on July 14, 2007 at Fatal Femmes Fighting 2. She defeated Evinger via submission due to an armbar in the first round.
Porto was expected to face FFF bantamweight champion Roxanne Modafferi on November 3, 2007 at Fatal Femmes Fighting 3. However, Modafferi was removed from the event due to a shoulder injury and was replaced by Hitomi Akano. Porto defeated Akano via split decision after five rounds. Her match for the FFF bantamweight title against Modafferi happened on April 3, 2008 at Fatal Femmes Fighting 4. Porto lost via TKO for the first time in her MMA career.
Porto faced Germaine de Randamie on December 19, 2008 at Revolution Fight Club 2. She won via submission due to an armbar in the first round.

Return to Brazilian promotions

Between December 2008 and March 2011, Porto amassed five victories and suffered a single loss against Amanda Nunes. On October 28, 2011, Porto defeated Jennifer Maia via technical submission due to an armbar at Kumite MMA Combate.
Porto became the first Pink Fight champion at 132 pounds on March 10, 2012 when she knocked out Luana Teixeira at Pink Fight 2.
In mid-2012, after a long time away from American promotions, Porto signed with Invicta Fighting Championships.

Invicta Fighting Championships

Porto was expected to make her Invicta FC debut against Kelly Kobold on July 28, 2012 at '. However, Kobold suffered a shoulder injury and Porto instead faced Sarah D'Alelio. Porto lost the fight via submission due to a reverse triangle armbar in the first round.
Porto dropped down to 125 pounds and faced Tara LaRosa on October 6, 2012 at
'. She won the fight via unanimous decision.
Porto then fought against Barb Honchak on April 5, 2013 at in a five-round match to determine the first-ever Invicta FC flyweight champion. She lost the fight via unanimous decision.
Porto faced Zoila Frausto Gurgel on December 7, 2013 at Invicta FC 7. She won the fight via unanimous decision.
Porto was expected to face Roxanne Modafferi at on December 5, 2014. However she was replaced by Andrea Lee due to visa issue.
Porto the fought Roxanne Modafferi at Invicta FC 12: Kankaanpää vs. Souza on Friday, April 24, 2015. She won the fight via unanimous decision.
On [March 11, 2016, Porto face Jennifer Maia second time at. She lost the fight via unanimous decision.
At her next fight, she faced Agnieszka Niedźwiedź at. She lost the fight after three round with the judges handed down a win to Niedzwiedz via a unanimous decision.
Porta was expected to face Jessica-Rose Clark on December 8, 2018 atInvicta FC 26: Maia vs. Niedwiedz; however, Clark was replaced byd Milana Dudieva.
At the weight-ins, Porta weight 127.6 Ibs, misse weight by 2.6 Ibs of the upper flyweight limit of 125 Ibs, and was fined [twenty five percent of her purse. The bout proceeded at catchweight. Porta won the fight via technical knocked out on round three.
One month later, she fought against Mariana Morais on January 13, 2018 at. She won the fight via a rear-naked choke on round one.
Porto faced Pearl Gonzalez for the vacant flyweight title at Invicta FC 34 on February 15, 2019. She won the fight via technical decision.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts