Tina Black Wants a Top-15 Strawweight for Her Real UFC Debut

Tina Black isn't interested in easing into the UFC. The 30-year-old Brazilian, who fights as Valesca Machado, took the strawweight trophy on season 34 of The Ultimate Fighter with a stoppage of Melissa Amaya on Sept. 26, and she's already asking for a ranked opponent in what she calls her "actual" UFC debut — the first time she gets to walk out in official UFC gear.

The numbers back the ambition. Black is riding a six-fight winning streak, counting the two TUF bouts that don't go on official records, and she hasn't lost in over three years. On the show she beat Natalia Alves and Delphine Benouaich — now 8-2 in her own right — as part of Daniel Cormier's team before finishing Amaya. Black said the final played out exactly how she'd pictured it.

No Time Off

She wanted a fourth fight in 2026 before the year closed out. Black told MMA Fighting she's already talking to her manager about getting something booked, insists she came out of the TUF run uninjured, and is ramping her training back up so she's ready the moment a call comes. Three fights this year isn't enough for her.

On the opponent question, she's refreshingly blunt: top 15, top 10, she doesn't care. Black says she's never cherry-picked a matchup in her career and doesn't plan to start now. The former Invicta FC and A1 Combat champion wants a ranked name right away because, in her words, she's in the UFC to make history.

A Crowded Room of Friends

The catch is that the 115-pound division is full of people she knows. Black has trained with and cornered Tabatha Ricci, Virna Jandiroba and Iasmin Lucindo, and her friend Aieza Bertolso just earned a UFC deal on the Contender Series — in the same weight class. Black joked that if she ends up fighting any of them, they'll scrap it out and then split a beer afterward.

At the top sits Mackenzie Dern, who claimed the vacant strawweight belt by beating Gillian Robertson while Zhang Weili was away, and who's now waiting on her next challenger. Black says she won't skip steps — she spent years clawing from the regional scene through the Contender Series and into the UFC, so patience isn't the issue. Getting booked again before 2026 is done is.