Gloria de Paula

Gloria de Paula is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who discovered fighting in 2015 after watching Ronda Rousey defend her UFC bantamweight title at a live event in Rio de Janeiro. Inspired by that moment, she left her modeling career to train Muay Thai and MMA at Chute Boxe in São Paulo, eventually earning a contract on Dana White's Contender Series in November 2020. She arrived in the UFC as a striking specialist with a Muay Thai pedigree and a 4-2 amateur record.

Her UFC tenure from 2021 to 2022 was uneven. De Paula made her promotional debut against Jinh Yu Frey in March 2021 and lost a unanimous decision. Four months later, she suffered a devastating first-round TKO loss to Cheyanne Vlismas, knocked down by a head kick and finished on the ground. She rebounded in early 2022 with a clean unanimous-decision win over Diana Belbita, showcasing her striking dominance at range. Her final UFC appearance came in June 2022 against Maria Oliveira, where she lost a split decision despite seven of thirteen media scorecards favoring her. The UFC did not re-sign her after that bout.

At strawweight, de Paula is fundamentally a striker, landing nearly 300 significant strikes across her UFC run with a 66% striking defense. She has recorded three UFC knockouts and maintains solid cardio across three-round fights, though her grappling remains underdeveloped. Since her UFC release, she has competed in Invicta FC and the LFA, continuing her career outside the top promotion.