Polyana Viana had someone very important in mind at UFC Vegas 8.
Viana competed on the preliminary card of UFC Vegas 8, scoring a first-round submission victory over Emily Whitmire. The win was a significant one for Viana, who dedicated the victory to her deceased teammate in Odali Filho, who passed away on July 23 after drowning while swimming at a low head dam. Viana says that Filho was an extraordinary person and she’ll fulfill a promise that was made to Filho, by giving a backpack to his mother.
“Everybody loved him in the gym; he was always playing around with us,” Viana said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “He was an extraordinary guy, and it’s so unfortunate that he passed away. We weren’t very close, but we were friends and we got along really well. He asked me for a backpack, and I promised him that I would give him the UFC backpack from this fight, so this win was for him. I’ll send the backpack to his mother.”
Filho had a 7-3-0 record during his time as a professional MMA fighter, with his last fight being a first round submission win over Dominic Schober at Mix Fight Night 8 in June of 2019. Filho was just 28 years old at the time of his passing.
Fightful has all of your MMA needs covered. Follow us on Twitter for updates, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive interviews, lists, news updates and predictions.
