Camila Ferreira

CAMILA FERREIRA A statement. Posted to my own page on the federation's site. For STRIFE Nation. For the locker room. For the office. Read in the order it makes sense to you. ———————————————— My name is Camila Ferreira. I compete in the federation under the name Diamante. I have been a STRIFE roster member since April. I am writing this today because I have been silent for long enough that the silence has, in my reading, started to mean something I did not intend it to mean. I would rather the silence mean what I intend it to mean. So I am writing. I am going to be direct because I do not have the temperament for the alternative. ———————————————— THE RECORD. I have competed three times in this federation. I have lost three times. I will not enumerate the matches in detail because the matches are on the federation's record and the federation's record is correct. I lost cleanly. The fighters who beat me beat me. I respect them. I am not writing this to argue with the record. I am writing because the record is not the whole record. ———————————————— THE OTHER PART OF THE RECORD. The federation announced an eight-woman tournament to determine the inaugural Women's Champion. The tournament was held. The tournament produced a champion. I am happy for the champion. She earned it on the broadcast. I was not in the tournament. Mr. Barr named the eight competitors on broadcast and named me in the same announcement — specifically — as someone who would not be in the bracket. He did not explain the choice. He has not explained it since. He is not, by my reading of his position as the office, required to explain it. I am not asking for the explanation. I have decided that asking for it would itself be a kind of acceptance of the office's right to withhold it, and I do not, in this specific case, accept that. So I am not asking. I am noting. ———————————————— THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE. I want to put one piece of personal history on the record because the history is relevant to what I am saying and because the history is mine to share. Before STRIFE I had a contract dispute with a major Brazilian promotion. The promotion publicly stated that I was "too raw" for their product. Two weeks later, the promotion signed a foreign worker with approximately one-quarter of my professional experience and approximately none of my street record. The promotion did not explain the calculus. The promotion was not asked to. I am not telling this story to ask for sympathy. I am telling this story because the calculus is recognisable. A federation looks at a fighter and decides — for reasons that are not on the record — that the fighter is not the version of the product they want. The federation does not lie about the decision. The federation does not justify it. The federation simply makes the decision, executes the consequences, and moves forward. The fighter is left to either accept the calculus or do something about it. The previous time, I accepted the calculus by leaving. This time, I am not leaving. ———————————————— WHAT I AM NOT ASKING. I am not asking for an explanation. The office has refused to provide one and I am not interested in extracting one I have to fight for. I am not asking for a title shot. I am 0-3. The competitors who are 4-0 and 3-1 are ahead of me in the line, mathematically and visibly, and the line is the correct line. I am not asking for sympathy from the audience. I have made a career out of not asking for it and the career is mine and the choice is mine and I am not, this morning, going to reverse it for the convenience of being more readable. I am not asking the federation to like me. I am not asking any of the women on the current roster to like me either. Most of them do not. I have noticed. I do not require their friendship to do my work. ———————————————— WHAT I AM DOING. I am continuing to train. I am at the gym. I am at the building when the federation tells me to be at the building. The next match the federation gives me, I will take. I will fight it the way I fight every match — pressing every edge the rules allow, using every advantage I can identify, ending the match by the means available. If I lose the fourth match, the record will read 0-4. If I win the fourth match, the record will read 1-3. Either result will be on the record and the record will be correct. The federation will eventually have to either give me real matches or explain on the record why it does not. I have, in my reading, noticed that the federation recently committed on broadcast to publishing a written methodology process within ninety days, in response to a similar question raised by another competitor. I am not going to name him. He has named himself enough. I will note, simply, that the document the federation publishes — assuming the federation publishes it — will either include the rationale for decisions like the one made about me, or it will not. I am willing to read the document either way. The ninety days started ticking on Behind Closed Doors 6. I am counting them. ———————————————— CLOSING. Eu sou Camila Ferreira. Eu compito como Diamante. Eu estou aqui. The Skull Crusher is still my finisher. The Discus Punch is still my signature. The diamond studs are still going into the cage every match the federation gives me, regardless of what the rulebook says about jewellery, because the rulebook also says the federation has to give me matches and the rulebook is not, in either of those particulars, being enforced. We can negotiate which violation gets attention first. — Diamante — Camila Ferreira