Gillian Robertson expects to submit Amanda Lemos to secure title shot at UFC Vegas 112

Gillian Robertson believes she can secure a title shot with a win on Saturday.

Robertson is set to take on Amanda Lemos in a pivotal fight at strawweight at UFC Vegas 112. She was originally supposed to fight Iasmin Lucindo, but Lucindo had to pull out and was replaced by Lemos, which Robertson was happy about. Despite Lemos being ranked higher, Robertson enters the fight as a -184 favorite on FanDuel.

“It’s nice to have the notice. Lemos is the girl whom I called out after my last fight, so the stars aligned,” Robertson said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “It’s fate. … I was surprised when she was booked to fight Suarez, so for her to fight back-to-back like this, I’m surprised for her to step up and take it. She’s 37, 38 years old. When you are a little bit older, you don’t usually take the big risks. But, it’s something I welcome.”

Although Lemos is a tough out, it is a matchup that intrigued Robertson. She said during her last training camp, she and her team thought Lemos made sense as a callout.

“It was during my camp for Marina Rodriguez, she fought Iasmin Lucino and won,” Robertson said. “After watching that fight, I felt like it was the ideal matchup; it made her ranked number five, and I was in the top-10. I felt like it was a fair jump. It was a good matchup in terms of rankings, and it’s a good matchup for me.”

Gillian Robertson expects to submit Amanda Lemos

Part of the reason why Gillian Robertson wanted to fight Amanda Lemos was due to the fact that she feels like she has a major grappling advantage.

The Canadian knows Lemos has KO power, but she’s confident she will be able to take Lemos down and eventually get a submission win.

“Game plan is completely changed. Amanda Lemos is like Lucindo’s big sister,” Robertson said. “A very similar style, just a lot more relaxed. She doesn’t need to push the pace but is trying to find those big shots. It will be a striker vs. grappler fight. … I feel like the ground and pound wins have been coming because girls don’t want to give me the submission. I’m always calling Round 2. For some reason, I do think the submission is coming.”

If Robertson gets her hand raised and does so by stoppage, she believes she could leapfrog Tatiana Suarez to get the next title shot.

“There is a lot of talk around Tatiana, and Dern even brought her up,” Robertson said. “That’s a perfect comparison for who deserves it. If I can go out there and outperform Tatiana, as she just held Lemos for three rounds. So, if I can go out and finish her, I think that automatically secures that spot for me and I deserve the title shot.”