Brazilian fighter Ketlen Vieira is preparing to face Cat Zingano in a women’s bantamweight division fight at UFC 222.
Andre Pederneiras is the longtime coach of Vieira and he feels the female fighting star will hold UFC gold in the future.
“I think Ketlen will be in great condition in the fight, and will be ready for whoever athlete shows up in front of her,” Pederneiras said to MMA Fighting. “In my opinion, Ketlen is the next UFC champion.”
Vieira holds a 3-0-0 record in the UFC (9-0-0 overall), which includes wins over Kelly Faszholz, Ashlee Evans-Smith and Sara McMann.
The Brazilian fighter was rumored to be fighting Germaine De Randamie before the Zingano fight came about, but Pederneiras says Zingano is a more complete fighter.
“Cat Zingano is more complete than Germaine, in my opinion,” Pederneiras said. “But with less fire power standing, better wrestling, both to take down and defend, and with a good ground game on top, but no big deal from the bottom. I see Ketlen going up (in her career), and Cat Zingano going down. Nothing that I say might influence on fight night, but this is my opinion looking outside in, three months before the fight.”
UFC 222 takes place on Saturday, March 3 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada with no main event announced at this time. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.
