Aline Pereira vs Smilla Sundell closes the Contender Series season, and the famous name is not the story

Aline Pereira vs Smilla Sundell is reported for the final episode of this Dana White’s Contender Series season on October 13 at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, at bantamweight. The headline writes itself because Aline is Alex Pereira’s sister. The fight is interesting for a different reason: Sundell was the youngest world champion in ONE Championship history, and she is two fights into an MMA career.

Key takeaways

Aline Pereira (3-2) meets Smilla Sundell (2-0) at bantamweight on the October 13 Contender Series card, the last episode of the season. Léo Guimarães reported the booking first; the UFC has not formally announced it.
Sundell won the inaugural ONE women's strawweight Muay Thai title on April 22, 2022, at 17 years and 161 days old, the youngest world champion in the promotion's history. She moved to MMA in December 2025 and is 2-0.
Aline Pereira is 35, a former GLORY kickboxer and 3-0 under the Karate Combat banner. Her most recent win was a split decision over Jade Masson-Wong at MVP MMA 1 in May, with her brother Alex in her corner.

What Aline Pereira vs Smilla Sundell actually is

The booking

The two bantamweights are set for October 13 at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas, in the closing episode of the current Contender Series season. Journalist Léo Guimarães reported it first and both fighters have since pointed to it on social media. The UFC has not put out a formal announcement, so treat the date as firm and the paperwork as pending.

Contender Series is not a normal fight. Winning is not enough: Dana White watches from cageside and hands out contracts based on what he sees, which historically has meant finishes and aggression rather than careful decisions. That detail matters a lot for how these two are likely to fight.

Two very different résumés

Aline Pereira is 3-2 in MMA and 35 years old. All three of her wins came by decision. She debuted in 2022 with LFA, competed for GLORY as a kickboxer, and went 3-0 in Karate Combat. In May she beat Jade Masson-Wong by split decision at MVP MMA 1, on the Ronda Rousey against Gina Carano undercard, with Alex Pereira working her corner.

Sundell is 21, stands 5-foot-10, and is 2-0 in MMA with two stoppages. Before that she went 5-0 in ONE Championship and held a Muay Thai record listed at 36-5-1. Those are not comparable career shapes, and the fight is more interesting for it.

Sundell is the one worth watching

A record that is hard to overstate

On April 22, 2022, in Singapore, Sundell beat Jackie Buntan by unanimous decision to win the inaugural ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai world title. She was 17 years and 161 days old, the youngest world champion in ONE history across every weight class and every discipline. She defended it in September 2023 by technical knockout against Allycia Rodrigues.

Then, at an age where most strikers with that résumé stay put, she changed sport. She signed with Tuff-N-Uff, debuted in MMA in December 2025 at 135 pounds, and has finished both opponents since.

What a striker of that level brings to a three-round MMA fight

The honest answer is that nobody knows yet, and two fights is not a sample. What is known is the shape of the problem. Sundell has close to a decade of high-level competitive striking behind her, at a weight she has moved up to, with the height and reach that come with it. Her weakness, if there is one, is everything that happens after the takedown, and two professional fights is not long enough to build a grappling game.

Aline Pereira knows this. She is the more experienced MMA fighter of the two, which is a strange thing to write about someone with five professional bouts, and every one of her wins has come from managing three rounds rather than ending them early.

I want to be a world champion in all three categories, so kickboxing and MMA and Muay Thai, I want to have all the belts at the same time.
— Smilla Sundell, to Sky Sports in May 2024

The Pereira name cuts both ways

A door opened, and a bar raised

Alex Pereira cornered his sister in May and she is on the Contender Series in October. It is fair to say the name helped get the call, and it is also fair to say the name is now a problem. A 35-year-old with a 3-2 record and three decision wins is not the usual profile for a contract, and every viewer will be measuring her against a two-division champion she happens to be related to.

There is a version of this where that pressure is an advantage. Aline came from kickboxing like her brother, and Karate Combat rewarded the same thing Contender Series does, which is a fighter who moves forward. If she is going to get a contract, it will not be on another split decision.

What October 13 decides

Two questions, and they are not the same question. Whether Sundell’s striking translates cleanly to MMA against someone who has actually done this, and whether Aline Pereira can produce the kind of night that earns a contract on merit rather than on curiosity. Both fighters can leave with a deal, and both can leave without one.

Records, full cards and every Contender Series result as it lands are in the FightHub app. Download it and follow the October 13 card from the booking through to the contracts.