Even before she made her first official appearance in the Octagon, Rodriguez and her coach Marcio Malko had an idea in their heads about how things would proceed once they arrived on the big stage and, so far, everything has gone exactly as they anticipated.

“The only thing that changed was my will to work more and more to reach our goals,” said Rodriguez, who earned the opportunity to compete in the UFC with a first-round stoppage win over Maria Oliveira during one of the three all-Brazilian instalments of the Contender Series that were held in Las Vegas in 2018. “We knew that the opportunity would come and that when it did, that the level of opposition in the UFC would be a lot different than what I was facing before.

“Looking back and seeing all we have done motivates us every single day,” continued Rodriguez, who always speaks of herself in tandem with Malko. “That helps propel us forward even more. We are never satisfied with where we are; we’re always looking to evolve and improve.”

The streaking Muay Thai stylist is confident that staying the course and remaining focused on the things that got her to this point will eventually produce a rise in the rankings and greater acknowledgement of the threat she poses in the strawweight division.