After falling short at UFC 321, what’s next for Virna Jandiroba?

This past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 321, the vacant strawweight title was on the line. Mackenzie Dern (16-5) and Virna Jandiroba (22-4) were fighting for the second time and this time, gold was on the line.

These two first fought back in 2020 with Dern winning a unanimous decision. Since then, Jandiroba had gone on an incredible run winning five in a row to earn the shot on Saturday. Meanwhile, Dern had more of a mixed bag of results, but she had won two straight entering Saturday.

In the first round, these two were mainly striking and Dern had the clear advantage. In the second round, Jandiroba had her best round of the fight where she mixed in takedowns with some solid striking. However, in the final three rounds, Jandiroba really struggled.

Dern was having more success on the feet and Jandiroba did have some success with takedowns. However, she never did anything to advance position on the ground and you could tell that she appeared nervous of the jiu jitsu of Dern.

Several times Jandiroba got a takedown and just backed away letting Dern back up. Jandiroba kept things close, but she never did anything to secure a round for herself and in the end, I gave Dern four rounds. All three judges gave Dern the fight and she became the UFC strawweight champion.

What’s next after UFC 321?

This is a tough loss for Jandiroba who waited a while for this title shot. She’s looked very good as of late and worked really hard to get this shot. Now, she’s in a really difficult position with Dern as the champion. The reality is that they’ve now fought twice with Dern winning both fights.

With that being said, Jandiroba is going to have to work her way back to a title shot. In terms of what’s next, I could see a potential fight with Tabatha Ricci. Ricci is 3-1 in her last four fights and I could see the UFC looking to give her a shot against a top level opponent like Jandiroba. That could be a good fight for both of them.

If not Ricci, there could be a rematch with Loopy Godinez available. Loopy has won back-to-back fights to get to sixth in the division. Perhaps she could run it back next with Jandiroba after Jandiroba picked up a decision win over her last year.