New Mexico native Melissa Amaya, a 31-year-old mixed martial artist from Chaparral who graduated with a nursing degree from UNM in 2018, won her strawweight fight against Anna Melisano in Sunday’s debut episode of The Ultimate Fighter 34.
Amaya, who is on the team coached by former UFC champion Daniel Cormier, submitted Melisano, who was the No. 1 ranked women’s strawweight fighter on Michael Bisping’s team.
AS SHE SAID SHE WOULD
Melissa Amaya locks in the submission to kick off the #TUF34 season and move on to the semis!
STREAM NOW on @ParamountPlus! pic.twitter.com/DXA1IFBYj0
— The Ultimate Fighter (@UltimateFighter) June 15, 2026
“The one that impressed me the most is Melissa Amaya,” Cormier said in an interview released on social media Monday by the show. “She fought Michael’s No. 1 pick and she submitted her in the first round. She beat her in the stand up, beat her in the grappling. Melissa Amaya is the real deal. She’s going to be hard to beat.”
Amaya. 8-0 as a professional fighter, now fights out of Spokane, Washington. While the TUF fights don’t count on her professional record, the winner gets a six-figure UFC contract.
After Sunday’s premiere, the 12-show season releases new episodes each Tuesday on Paramount+. The entire season has already been filmed and the fighters aren’t allowed to discuss who won.
Reach Geoff Grammer at ggrammer@abqjournal.com or follow him on Twitter (X) @GeoffGrammer.
