Karol Rosa still hopes to meet Julia Avila after canceled UFC Singapore fight

NITEROI, Brazil — Karol Rosa had to postpone her return to the Octagon after a left knee injury forced her out of a planned bout with Julia Avila at UFC Singapore on Nov. 26, but she’s still eyeing that match-up for 2020.

Rosa recently sat down with MMA Fighting during a visit at Parana Vale-Tudo gym in Niteroi, Brazil, and explained that the injury she sustained has actually been bothering her for more than a decade.

“I’ve always fought with a bad knee,” said Rosa, revealing that her knee bent in the opposite direction when she was just a child starting to train jiu-jitsu, but she was “too stubborn” to go to the doctor to have it checked. “It got worse over time.”

“Both of my knees have injuries, but I was kicked a lot in my last fight against Lara (Procopio at UFC Shenzhen) that my knee was too swollen. I thought it would get better, but it kept getting worse when I went back to training so I went to the doctor and he said I had to stay away from training for a month.”

Rosa will have 10 physical therapy sessions over a period of three weeks to treat multiple issues in that knee and then slowly get back to the training.

Victorious in her last three bouts after winning a decision against Procopio in her Octagon debut on Aug. 31, the bantamweight talent hopes to get back in the cage in early 2020.

“I was so excited to be back so soon, but God knows everything,” she said. “I know that I’ll have many more fights in the UFC, and it’s possible that I’ll be ranked among the top next year.”

The PRVT fighter, who was a graduated a black belt in jiu-jitsu weeks after defeating Procopio in China, believes that the division is so shallow that she can earn top 10 — or even top 5 — status in 12 months with “the right fights”.

Rosa doesn’t know who would be a good opponent for her first appearance in the eight-sided cage next year, but still likes the idea of facing Avila, who earned a decision win against Pannie Kianzad in her promotional debut in July.

“It’s a good match-up,” Rosa said. “We both won our debuts and I already kind of expected to face her in the future, but didn’t expect it to happen this soon [laughs]. We’ll fight one day and it’s gonna be a good fight for both of us. I do think we’ll fight next year.”