Gigi Canuto’s Whirlwind Journey to UFC Debut Fueled by ‘The Plot’

Gigi Canuto was in Thailand, a couple of weeks into what was scheduled to be a two-month trip to train with her close friend Casey O’Neill and the crew at Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA after spending several weeks earlier this year cooped up in the Ultimate Fighter house in Las Vegas.

“Mick said, ‘Do you wanna fight next week?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll get on the first flight out’ and that was that,” said Canuto. “It’s been an absolute crazy week, and I’m trying to be present, take it all in. It’s gonna be my first fight week forever. It’s been a lot of blessings, and I’m still kinda processing it all, taking it one step at a time.”

The sudden call to compete on the biggest stage in the sport is the latest twist in a year-long tale that has seen the Brazilian trade Arizona for Las Vegas after the gym she was training at closed its doors, land a place on Season 34 of The Ultimate Fighter, navigate that experience while keeping the results of the fights secret, and ultimately being announced as making her promotional debut this weekend just a day after her semifinal loss to Melissa Amaya aired on Paramount+.

It would be a lot to process for anyone and definitely feel chaotic for most, but it has actually aligned with how Canuto decided to approach this year.

“Honestly, this whole year I’ve been telling my husband that this whole year is just for the plot; I’m doing it for the plot,” she said with a laugh.

“Last year, I feel like I was still young, ‘I need to pick the right fights, make the right decisions,’ and this year, I was like, ‘Honestly? F*** it! Let’s see where life takes me. I’m just gonna do things for the story.’ It has been absolute crazy, great chaos, and I’m super-blessed.

“I wrote in my journal in January that I was gonna be in the UFC this year,” Canuto said. “I had no idea that TUF was gonna happen. I had no idea that Contender Series wasn’t gonna have many fights for 115. I had no idea any of it was gonna happen, but I just put it in my journal, and I texted my manager. He said, ‘Oh, what makes you think this year?’ and he was just asking out of curiosity, and I said, ‘I have no idea; I just have a feeling.’ I guess I was right.”

While the nature of this opportunity is unconventional, there may not be a better manner to prepare for what Canuto has been dealing with this week than taking part in The Ultimate Fighter. Although the episodes play out over several months, the entire season is put together in roughly six weeks, with fighters making weight and competing every couple of weeks if they’re fortunate enough to advance in the competition.

Add in all the cameras, interviews, and everything taking place at the Performance Institute and Meta APEX, and you basically have an extended introduction to everything Canuto has been going through since landing back in Vegas on Sunday evening.

“I was just talking with my friend Natalia (Alves) who was on TUF with me, and we became really close,” began Canuto. “She flew out from Florida to be here with me, and she’s gonna be in my corner. We were talking about how TUF is basically Project UFC; they train you to be in the UFC.

“I’m very familiar with these things thanks to having friends in the UFC, living in Vegas for a while. I’ve cornered in the UFC — I cornered Jackie Amorim and Casey O’Neill, and I feel like that really helped me with exposure — and then being in Vegas, knowing all the staff, knowing everybody at the APEX, the PI. Nothing is really a huge impact, which I think if I wasn’t in that position, I might be overwhelmed by the opportunity. It feels very ‘Oh my god — I’m in the UFC!’ but it’s not taken things out of focus, distracted me from the goal.”

For Canuto, this weekend feels like a bit of a “do-over” for her semifinal fight with Amaya, only this time, it comes with all the bells and whistles and none of the “fighting a girl I live with” weirdness of the show.

“If someone came in that f****** house and told me, ‘Hey GiGi, you get to fight the semifinals again, and you get to fight this girl that doesn’t live in this house, and you get to fight her next week, but you get to have walkout music, you get to have your own coaches, you get to have the people you love around…’”

“Bro,” she deadpanned. “I fought in that exact Octagon. I fought with Dana right there — I was speaking to him before the fight, spoke to him after my fights. It’s divine; it’s the perfect opportunity for me to have right after before a moment like this, and I’m basically having the semifinals again.”

Situations like this don’t afford either party much time to prepare for the other, but Canuto was already familiar with Foro, having tuned in last season when the Brazilian strawweight out-duelled England’s Shanelle Dyer to claim her spot on the roster.

“I expect her to fight like she always fights,” Canuto said. “She’s a very good boxer and has a style that I really like, which is more body shots and hooks. I watched her Contender Series fight, and I thought it was sick, so to fast-forward and now we’re fighting is super-exciting. I don’t think she’s been tested a lot in certain areas. Obviously I’m mainly a grappler, but I’m an MMA fighter, I’m complete, and I just expect a really good fight.”

Asked how she sees this chapter playing out and fitting into her whole “doing it for the plot” approach to the year, Canuto was momentarily flabbergasted.

“F*** dude,” she said, taking multiple beats. “It’s been a ‘Holy S***!’ year, for sure. I’m acting from a place of a lot of gratitude, and I want to be present. Obviously, I’m gonna go for the win like I always do — I’m a sore loser; I hate losing — but I’m just going to this with nothing to lose. It’s a short-notice fight for me, and a short-notice fight for her, and we’re just gonna try to kill each other.

“I think a person that is coming from a place of gratitude and with nothing to lose is a very dangerous person to fight,” she added. “I’m gonna try to have the most fun ever, be present, and outsmart the absolute s*** out of her.”

Don't miss a moment of UFC Fight Night: Gamrot vs Salkilld, live from Meta APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 8, 2026. Prelims start at 5pm ET/2pm PT, followed by the main card at 8pm ET/5pm PT. Stream the entire event live on Paramount+.