A teenager Juliana Velasquez started her athletic career as a judoka in Brazil, but never reached her ultimate goal of competing for an Olympic medal. Years after making the jump to mixed martial arts, however, she’s close to finally becoming a champion.
The unbeaten judoka, 34, needed five wins in a row to earn a shot at 125-pound flyweight queen Ilima-Lei Macfarlane in the main event of Thursday’s Bellator 254 in Uncasville, Conn. She refuses to allow herself to dream about holding gold right now, but knows it would be a life-changing moment.