Vanessa Alessandra Teixeira Porto (born March 16, 1984) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and amateur boxer who competes in the flyweight division.
Porto grew up in Jaú, São Paulo in a family of soccer players. She had an appreciation for martial arts from a young age and started to practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 2004. She is currently married to her trainer Pedro Iglesias.
Porto began her professional MMA career in 2005. She initially fought only for Brazilian promotions such as Storm Samurai and Champions Night and faced opponents including Carina Damm, Cris Cyborg and Brazilian kickboxing champion Juliana Werner Aguiar. She defeated Aguiar on three occasions.
With a record of five wins and two losses, Porto signed with the U.S.-based Fatal Femmes Fighting promotion.
Porto made her FFF debut against Tonya Evinger on July 14, 2007, at Fatal Femmes Fighting 2. She defeated Evinger via submission due to an armbar in the first round.
Porto was expected to face FFF bantamweight champion Roxanne Modafferi on November 3, 2007, at Fatal Femmes Fighting 3. However, Modafferi was removed from the event due to a shoulder injury and was replaced by Hitomi Akano. Porto defeated Akano via split decision after five rounds. Her match for the FFF bantamweight title against Modafferi happened on April 3, 2008, at Fatal Femmes Fighting 4. Porto lost via TKO for the first time in her MMA career.
Porto faced Germaine de Randamie on December 19, 2008, at Revolution Fight Club 2. She won via submission due to an armbar in the first round.
Between December 2008 and March 2011, Porto amassed five victories and suffered a single loss against Amanda Nunes. On October 28, 2011, Porto defeated Jennifer Maia via technical submission due to an armbar at Kumite MMA Combate.
Porto became the first Pink Fight champion at 132 pounds on March 10, 2012, when she knocked out Luana Teixeira at Pink Fight 2.
In mid-2012, after a long time away from American promotions, Porto signed with Invicta Fighting Championships.
Porto was expected to make her Invicta FC debut against Kelly Kobold on July 28, 2012, at '. However, Kobold suffered a shoulder injury and Porto instead faced Sarah D'Alelio. Porto lost the fight via submission due to a reverse triangle armbar in the first round.
Porto dropped down to 125 pounds and faced Tara LaRosa on October 6, 2012, at '. She won the fight via unanimous decision.
Porto then fought against Barb Honchak on April 5, 2013, at ' in a five-round match to determine the first-ever Invicta FC flyweight champion. She lost the fight via unanimous decision.
Porto faced Zoila Frausto Gurgel on December 7, 2013, at Invicta FC 7. She won the fight via unanimous decision.
Porto was expected to face Roxanne Modafferi at on December 5, 2014. However she was replaced by Andrea Lee due to visa issue.
Porto the fought Roxanne Modafferi at on Friday, April 24, 2015. She won the fight via unanimous decision.
On March 11, 2016, Porto face Jennifer Maia second time at . She lost the fight via unanimous decision.
At her next fight, she faced Agnieszka Niedà ºwiedà º at . She lost the fight after three round with the judges handed down a win to Niedzwiedz via a unanimous decision.
Porta was expected to face Jessica-Rose Clark on December 8, 2018, at ; however, Clark was replaced byd Milana Dudieva.
At the weight-ins, Porta weight 127.6 Ibs, misse weight by 2.6 Ibs of the upper flyweight limit of 125 Ibs, and was fined twenty five percent of her purse. The bout proceeded at catchweight. Porta won the fight via technical knocked out on round three.
One month later, she fought against Mariana Morais on January 13, 2018, at . She won the fight via a rear-naked choke on round one.
Porto faced Pearl Gonzalez for the vacant Invicta FC Flyweight World Championship at Invicta FC 34 on February 15, 2019. She won the fight via technical decision after an eye poke rendered Porto unable to continue.
Porto was supposed to make her first title defense against Karina RodrÃÂguez at on November 1, 2019. However, RodrÃÂguez missed weight by a pound and she was unable to compete for the title. She won the bout via unanimous decision.
On September 2, 2020, it was announced that Vanessa was vacating her Invicta title and signing with Bellator MMA.
As the first bout of her four-fight contract, Porto made her promotional debut against Liz Carmouche on April 9, 2021, at Bellator 256. She lost the bout via unanimous decision.
Porto was scheduled to face Ilara Joanne on June 11, 2021, at Bellator 260. However, after weigh-ins, she was deemed unfit to compete by the commission and the bout was scrapped. The bout was rescheduled for July 31, 2021, at Bellator 263. Porto won the close bout via split decision.
Porto faced Veta Arteaga on July 22, 2022, at Bellator 283. She lost the bout via guillotine choke in the second round.
|- |Loss |align=center|23âÂÂ10 |Veta Arteaga |Submission (guillotine choke) |Bellator 283 | |align=center|2 |align=center|3:47 |Tacoma, Washington, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 23âÂÂ9 |Ilara Joanne |Decision (split) |Bellator 263 | |align=center|3 |align=center|5:00 |Los Angeles, California, United States | |- |Loss |align=center|22âÂÂ9 |Liz Carmouche |Decision (unanimous) |Bellator 256 | |align=center|3 |align=center|5:00 |Uncasville, Connecticut, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 22âÂÂ8 | Karina RodrÃÂguez | Decision (unanimous) | | | align=center| 3 | align=center| 5:00 | Kansas City, Kansas, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 21âÂÂ8 | Pearl Gonzalez | Technical Decision (unanimous) | | | align=center| 4 | align=center| 2:34 | Kansas City, Missouri, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 20âÂÂ8 | Mariana Morais | Submission (rear-naked choke) | | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 4:19 | Kansas City, Missouri, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 19âÂÂ8 | Milana Dudieva | TKO (punch to the body) | | | align=center| 3 | align=center| 3:02 | Kansas City, Missouri, United States | |- | Loss | align=center| 18âÂÂ8 | Agnieszka Niedà ºwiedà º | Decision (unanimous) | | | align=center| 3 | align=center| 5:00 | Kansas City, Missouri, United States | |- | Loss | align=center| 18âÂÂ7 | Jennifer Maia | Decision (unanimous) | | | align=center| 5 | align=center| 5:00 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 18âÂÂ6 | Roxanne Modafferi | Decision (unanimous) | | | align=center| 3 | align=center| 5:00 | Kansas City, Missouri, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 17âÂÂ6 | Ana Maria | Decision (unanimous) | Fatality Arena 6 | | align=center| 3 | align=center| 5:00 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 16âÂÂ6 | Zoila Frausto | Decision (unanimous) | | | align=center| 3 | align=center| 5:00 | Kansas City, Missouri, United States | |- | Loss | align=center| 15âÂÂ6 | Barb Honchak | Decision (unanimous) | | | align=center| 5 | align=center| 5:00 | Kansas City, Missouri, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 15âÂÂ5 | Tara LaRosa | Decision (unanimous) | | | align=center| 3 | align=center| 5:00 | Kansas City, Kansas, United States | |- | Loss | align=center| 14âÂÂ5 | Sarah D'Alelio | Submission (reverse triangle armbar) | | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 3:16 | Kansas City, Kansas, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 14âÂÂ4 | Luana Teixeira | KO (punch) | Pink Fight 2 | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 0:41 | Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 13âÂÂ4 | Jennifer Maia | Technical submission (armbar) | Kumite MMA Combate | | align=center| 2 | align=center| 3:55 | Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 12âÂÂ4 | Kalindra Faria | Submission (armbar) | Recife Fighting Championship 4 | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 3:37 | Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 11âÂÂ4 | Valdinéia Santos | TKO (punches) | Predador FC 17 | | align=center| 1 | align=center| N/A | Jaú, São Paulo, Brazil | |- | Loss | align=center| 10âÂÂ4 | Amanda Nunes | TKO (corner stoppage) | Samurai FC 2: Warrior's Return | | align=center| 2 | align=center| 5:00 | Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 10âÂÂ3 | Roberta Torno | Submission (armbar) | Jungle Fight 16 | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 1:47 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 9âÂÂ3 | Mahalia Rocha de Morais | Submission (armbar) | Jungle Fight 15 | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 4:28 | São Paulo, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 8âÂÂ3 | Germaine de Randamie | Submission (armbar) | Revolution Fight Club 2 | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 3:36 | Miami, Florida, United States | |- | Loss | align=center| 7âÂÂ3 | Roxanne Modafferi | TKO (knees) | Fatal Femmes Fighting 4: Call of the Wild | | align=center| 3 | align=center| 0:53 | Los Angeles, California, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 7âÂÂ2 | Hitomi Akano | Decision (split) | Fatal Femmes Fighting 3: War of the Roses | | align=center| 5 | align=center| 3:00 | Ontario, California, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 6âÂÂ2 | Tonya Evinger | Submission (armbar) | Fatal Femmes Fighting 2: Girls Night Out | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 2:14 | Compton, California, United States | |- | Win | align=center| 5âÂÂ2 | Juliana Werner Aguiar | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | Super Challenge 1 | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 1:20 | Barueri, São Paulo, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 4âÂÂ2 | Ana Maria ÃÂndia | Submission (rear-naked choke) | Gold Fighters Championship 1 | | align=center| 2 | align=center| 4:45 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |- | Loss | align=center| 3âÂÂ2 | Cris Cyborg | Decision (unanimous) | Storm Samurai 9 | | align=center| 3 | align=center| 5:00 | Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 3âÂÂ1 | Juliana Werner Aguiar | Technical submission (arm-triangle choke) | Storm Samurai 8 | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 0:33 | BrasÃÂlia, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 2âÂÂ1 | Juliana Werner Aguiar | TKO (punches) | Champions Night 12 | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 4:08 | MarÃÂlia, São Paulo, Brazil | |- | Win | align=center| 1âÂÂ1 | Elaine de Lima | Submission (armbar) | Body Fight 2 | | align=center| 1 | align=center| 1:01 | Maringá, Paraná, Brazil | |- | Loss | align=center| 0âÂÂ1 | Carina Damm | Decision (unanimous) | Barra Submission Wrestling | | align=center| 2 | align=center| 5:00 | São João da Barra, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |