What does “encarada” mean in Portuguese?

Encarada is the stare-down before a fight, when two opponents stand face to face at the weigh-in or press event and try to win the mental battle first. It comes from encarar, “to look someone in the face,” built on cara, “face.” Outside sport, encarar also means “to take something on”: vou encarar o desafio is “I’ll face the challenge.”

Sports sites write headlines like encarada tensa (“tense face-off”), and the clip opens with Tá aí a encarada, “Here’s the face-off.” The same scene uses frente a frente, “face to face.” Out of sport, ficar encarando someone is staring at them in a way that can feel rude, so para de me encarar! is “stop staring at me!”