This past Saturday on the main card of UFC Vancouver, we saw a big time matchup in the women’s flyweight division. Former title challenger Manon Fiorot (13-2) was looking to get back on track as she took on the surging top contender Jasmine Jasudavicius (14-4).
When looking at this fight, I figured it was all going to come down to the takedowns of Jasudavicius and the takedown defense / strength of Manon Fiorot. Fiorot is incredibly strong and she showed how good her takedown defense was in her matchup against Erin Blanchfield.
I figured that Jasudavicius would struggle to get Fiorot down and I picked Fiorot by decision. Well, Fiorot never gave Jasudavicius much of a chance to get going on Saturday night because just over a minute into the first round, Fiorot rocked her badly with a big shot.
Jasudavicius was on skates and Fiorot pounced on her. Jasudavicius tried to defend on the ground after getting dropped, but she took several unanswered shots and Fiorot got the TKO win at UFC Vancouver just 1:14 into the first round.
What’s next after UFC Vancouver?
When you get your opportunity to fight for the title and you lose, the next fight is massive. Can you bounce back or will you flame out? We’ve seen so many top contenders lose when they fight for the belt and it seems like they never recovered from losing that opportunity.
However, Manon Fiorot did just the opposite. She had arguably the best performance of her career at UFC Vancouver and now, she’s back to being the number one ranked flyweight contender in this week’s updated rankings.
In terms of what’s next for her, I love the idea of pairing her with Natalia Silva next. Silva was the number one contender entering Saturday night and Fiorot has taken that spot. Have these two fight next with Valentina Shevchenko and Zhang Weili fighting for the flyweight title next month. The winners of both fights can fight for the title in the spring.
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