Jully Poca steps into the ring this Friday, August 21, against Cinderella Linnear at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California, and she is bringing a story that goes way past the record book. The Brazilian fighter, boxing and social media crossover star, is on the undercard of Amanda Serrano’s featherweight title defense against Lucrecia Manzur, streaming live on TikTok. Here’s the full rundown on who she is, how she got here, and what’s on the line this weekend.
Who is Jully Poca?
Jully de Oliveira, known worldwide as Jully Poca, is a 32-year-old fighter from Santo André, São Paulo, who was born on April 7, 1994. She started training in Sanda at age 17, long before boxing entered her life. By her own account, that martial arts base gave her the movement, distance control, explosiveness, and reflexes she now leans on in the ring.
“I started martial arts when I was 17, training in Sanda,” Jully Poca explained to Stake. “Which is also known as Chinese boxing. I always loved fighting, but traditional boxing came into my life much later and in a way I never expected.”
Jully Poca’s first fight came in April 2023 against Daniella Hemsley under the KingPyn banner in London, and she won by unanimous decision. She followed that with a win over Elle Brooke, then Alaena Vampira to claim the Misfits Boxing women’s cruiserweight title, and later added defenses against Avery Pongracz and Monica Medina, keeping her combined record spotless across the influencer circuit.
That stretch also brought a public back-and-forth with MMA legend Cris Cyborg, who called Poca out for a Misfits bout after winning the PFL Super Fights title. Poca pushed back hard on social media, pointing out the gap in fight experience between them, writing, “19 years of career, 17 world belts and I’m so important in your life that the first thing you do after a victory is challenge me when I’ve only been training for 1 year and a half and have 5 fights? The right time will come, but it’s not now”. Cyborg fired back calling her “the mosquito that needs to be taken care of,” but the fight never materialized.
MVP Boxing
In January 2026, Most Valuable Promotions, the company run by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, announced six new signings on the women’s side, and Poca’s name was among them alongside titleholders like Tiara Brown and Oshae Jones. The signing turned her from a crossover novelty act into a genuine pro prospect, training full time under coach Antonio Filho, who also guided former WBO champion Rose Volante.
Her professional debut came on June 13, 2026, at MVPW-04 in Orlando, where she rematched Monica Medina at 140 pounds and won by unanimous decision. In her post-fight interview she shouted, “Brazil, welcome to the pros,” summing up how much the moment meant to her and her home country. That win moved her record to 1-0 as a professional and set up her second outing this weekend.
Fight This Weekend
Speaking ahead of the Linnear fight, Jully Poca described the shift from debut nerves to a more settled mindset. “My professional debut was a dream come true, but now that feeling of everything being completely new is gone. I know a little more about what to expect, and I really want to show my evolution,” she said. “I have a lot of respect for Cinderella, but I’m going there to do my job, put on a show, and come out with another win.”
On her fighting identity, she described herself as “very explosive,” with “a different kind of movement,” and said she is “extremely competitive.” She added that she still feels far from her ceiling in boxing, saying she is “learning and improving really fast.”
Poca has been vocal about what it means to build her career under Jake Paul’s promotion. “It’s crazy to think about! I watched Jake’s whole journey from influencer to boxer and businessman, so it’s really cool to now be part of MVP,” she said, adding that MVP is “a company that genuinely believes in female fighters and gives women the opportunity to be the stars of the show.” Her MVP deal reportedly guarantees a minimum of three fights per year, which she called important for staying active while chasing a world title.
She has also named her dream opponent without hesitation: seven-division champion Amanda Serrano, who headlines the very card Poca is fighting on this weekend. “She’s a fighter I really admire, because of the career she has built, everything she represents for women’s boxing, and her fighting style,” Poca said, while acknowledging she is “still at the beginning” of her professional journey.
Cinderella Linnear is a professional fighter out of Shreveport, Louisiana, also unbeaten at 1-0 heading into Friday’s four-round super-lightweight bout. She is a prospect looking to hand Poca her first professional loss.
The main event pits Amanda Serrano against Argentina’s Lucrecia Manzur for the unified WBA, WBO, and Ring Magazine featherweight titles, with Serrano entering at 49-4-1 and reportedly chasing the all-time women’s knockout record. The show marks the first professional boxing card ever streamed live and exclusively on TikTok.
Long before her name showed up on a fight poster, Jully Poca went viral in Brazil for stepping in during a street attack. She recalled driving along Radial Leste in São Paulo when she saw a man hitting and kicking a mother and her daughter while a crowd just watched. “I just went to help,” she said. She got the mother into her car, then went after the attacker, landed a strike, restrained him, and tied his arms and legs with his own shoelaces while waiting for police. “I think every woman should learn at least some basic self-defense,” she said, tying the moment directly to why she started training martial arts in the first place.
Jully Poca has also drawn attention for unconventional training methods, including sessions on the beach that show up regularly across her social channels. Sand training forces extra muscle engagement and builds stamina, explosiveness, and balance while going easier on the joints, and it doubles as content for her millions of followers. She has openly admitted that juggling filming, posting, and brand work with fight camp is exhausting, but she sees it as a way to show fans “what the real life of a professional fighter looks like.”
Poca has said a UFC appearance is not off the table someday given her martial arts roots, but for now her full focus sits on boxing and building toward a world title shot. She has floated Tokyo as a dream location for a future fight, citing Japan’s deep combat sports history and her personal connection to the culture. With Stake now backing her and MVP guaranteeing her regular fight dates, Friday’s bout against Cinderella Linnear is just the next step in a plan aimed squarely at the top of women’s boxing.
