Woman who choked out thief gets Jungle Fight
Monique Bastos: “So I was really thankful to God and Wallid Ismail for the opportunity to show my work. I never thought all of this could happen.”
Brazilian women’s strawweight Monique Bastos was on the way to Jiu-Jitsu class with two friends in Acailandia, Brazil, in September, when she was attacked by two men. They wanted the women’s cell phones. What they got was an ass whipping.
That publicity earned her a bout in Jungle Fight 82 in Sao Paulo on Saturday, vs. Jennifer Gonzales. Bastos moved from Maranhao to train at Bronx’s Gold Team in Sao Paulo with the likes of UFC featherweight Charles Oliveira.
“Right after everything happened, my coach called me saying he got me a fight,”said Bastos to Guilherme Cruz for MMAFighting.com. “So I was really thankful to God and Wallid Ismail for the opportunity to show my work. I never thought all of this could happen. It happened, and God opened doors for me so I could fight at Jungle Fight.”
“Training was perfect. I’m on weight, waiting for Saturday night. (Gonzales) has a good striking, so I worked on that, but I’m well prepared standing and on the ground.”
Jungle Fight 82 is a big card with lightweight champion Ciro Rodrigues fighting Eric Barbosa, Bruno Cappelozza fighting Sergio Bezerra for the vacant 220-pound title, and Amanda Lemos fighting Caroline Cunha for the the new women’s bantamweight title.