Daniel Cunningham
This past Saturday in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 115, we saw a matchup between two top ten strawweights. Former title challenger Virna Jandiroba (23-4) was looking to bounce back and preserve her spot in the top five as she took on fellow Brazilian Tabatha Ricci (12-4).
In ten UFC fights, Ricci was 7-3 entering Saturday night while Jandiroba was 8-4. Granted, Ricci’s first fight inside the octagon was at 125 so at strawweight, she was really 7-2 in nine fights. While that might indicate that she’s been having a stronger stretch, Jandiroba was 5-1 in six fights with her lone loss being a loss to Mackenzie Dern for the title.
I was stunned when the initial betting odds had Ricci as the favorite. Entering the fight, I was really struggling to see where she’d beat Jandiroba. Jandiroba was the better wrestler and she is incredibly scrappy on the feet. Ricci has good grappling and pressure but there was nothing that really stood out as a huge advantage for her.
That played out on Saturday night. She couldn’t really stop the takedowns of Jandiroba at UFC Vegas 115. Jandiroba really controlled the first two rounds and by the time Ricci found some success, it was too late and then Jandiroba scored another takedown. A clear decision win for Jandiroba on Saturday night and she bounced back in a big way.
What’s next after UFC Vegas 115?
Virna Jandiroba entered the UFC as the undefeated Invicta strawweight champion but she struggled early on. She went just 3-3 in her first six with losses to Carla Esparza, Mackenzie Dern, and Amanda Ribas. However, since then she’s gone 6-1 with wins over the likes of Tabatha Ricci, Yan Xiaonan, Amanda Lemos, and Loopy Godinez.
Her lone loss during that stretch was a second loss to Mackenzie Dern for the vacant UFC strawweight title back in October. She’s clearly one of the best in the world, but she’s in a tough spot right now. She has two losses to the current champion and it’s going to take a lot for her to get a third shot at her.
In the meantime, I think there are a couple of options for Jandiroba’s next fight. Next weekend, Tatiana Suarez is fighting Loopy Godinez at UFC 327. Gillian Robertson just defeated Amanda Lemos last month which was her fifth win in a row to get herself into the top five.
Zhang Weili is also lingering around and will potentially be returning to strawweight after vacating her title to try and win the flyweight title last year. Let’s say that Weili isn’t coming back at this time. In that case, I think that the UFC will have Dern face either Tatiana Suarez (should she win next week) or Gillian Robertson next for the strawweight title.
Whoever doesn’t get the title fight will face Jandiroba next. If Suarez gets the shot, then Jandiroba will face Robertson. If Robertson gets the shot, then Jandiroba will face Suarez. Either way it’ll be a top five fighter for Virna Jandiroba.
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