Michelle Nicolini is one of the most decorated athletes out there. She’s bowed away from IBJJF competitions and entirely focussed on MMA.

She will be fighting Friday 11th at ONE FC, biggest Asian MMA league and she’ll be taking on Egypt’s Mona Samir.

Nicolini recently explained her decision to leave BJJ competition in the past and pursue MMA to graciemag:

 I felt like I had accomplished everything I set out to do in BJJ and was looking for a new challenge. I love the process, and learning and testing myself, and that is what I am really enjoying about pursuing MMA full-time now.

#Respect Michelle Nicolini ??❤??????????????? #Repost @therealcockyron with @repostapp ・・・ This is a bitter sweet moment for all my checkmat family and myself. While I’m happy you will be pursing your mma career. I’m sad to see you go from sport jiu jitsu and I won’t be able to train and learn from as I have the past few years. I’m very thankful and appreciative for all that you’ve done for the sport, women’s bjj and help you’ve given me. I wish you all the best in OneFc, look forward to seeing you succeed there. And I’m always here to get beat up by you haha???kkkkkkk ?? ➖ Este é um momento doce amargo para toda a minha família CheckMat e eu. Enquanto eu estou feliz que você será perseguir sua carreira de MMA. Estou triste vê-lo ir de jitsu esporte jiu e eu não vou ser capaz de treinar e aprender como eu tenho nos últimos anos. Estou muito grato e agradecido por tudo que você fez para o esporte, bjj e ajuda da mulher que você me deu. Desejo-lhe tudo de melhor em OneFc, ansiosos para vê-lo a ter sucesso lá. E eu estou sempre aqui para apanhar por você kkkkkkk we will miss u @michellenicolinibjj #checkmatbjj #jiujitsu #bjj #michellenicolini @checkmathq

A video posted by Checkmat-São Paulo (@checkmatsp) on Jun 5, 2016 at 5:07pm PDT

Of course Nicolini will be looking to gain ground on the Egyptian national wrestler:

I believe the fans will see a good fight from us. Mona Samir is on the Egyptian national wrestling team, so that shows where her strengths lie. Obviously, with my background being in BJJ, if there is a submission opportunity I will go for it, but at the same time I am ready for every aspect of the fight, no matter where it goes.

As far as the Asian BJJ scene goes Nicolini says:

The BJJ scene in Singapore is relatively new but growing very fast. When I started teaching at Evolve I was quite surprised by how many students there were. People are starting to learn more about what BJJ is, and with MMA growing in Asia more people are being introduced to BJJ too. There are a few BJJ competitions here in Singapore each year. I am also happy to see that there are quite a few girls taking up BJJ.

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