Preview: UFC Vancouver ‘de Ridder vs. Allen’

Women’s Flyweights

Manon Fiorot (12-2; 7-1 UFC) vs. Jasmine Jasudavicius (14-3; 8-2 UFC)

Odds: Fiorot (-250); Jasudavicius (+200)

After her unsuccessful bid for the flyweight belt in May, Fiorot seeks to stay in the title discussion while blunting the momentum of Jasudavicius, who enters their tile on a five-fight win streak.

Fiorot seemed destined for the top from the moment she entered the UFC almost five years ago, and she did not disappoint. Part of the hype was due to her win streak, and part to the eyeball test, as the Frenchwoman is a huge, chiseled specimen like we have seen only very rarely in any women’s division. I commented on the preview show that if you didn’t know who or what she was, you might assume she was an Olympic athlete in any one of about a dozen different sports.

She is as advertised, but she is more than just raw physical tools, and in fact to concentrate on those tools almost sells her skills short. Fiorot is a pocket boxer with excellent combination punching, good body work and natural power that she delivers without overswinging. She uses good lateral movement and kicks to control things on the outside, then steps in and delivers three- and four-punch combinations.

While Fiorot greatly prefers to strike at middle range, she is a punisher in the clinch and is well above average as an offensive as well as defensive wrestler, as she showed in her fight with Katlyn Cerminara, where she took down one of the best ground fighters and general nullifiers in the division. Best of all, despite being a big flyweight with negative body fat and presumably a serious weight cut, she has shown herself capable of keeping up a high workrate in five-round as well as three-round fights.

Jasudavicius has been steadily improving since joining the UFC out of Dana White's Contender Series. She first stood out for her amateur wrestling pedigree, but after struggling against smaller, quicker, striking-oriented foes in Natalia Silva and Tracy Cortez, she appeared to have a clear ceiling at flyweight.

That turned out to be a premature assessment, as Jasudavicius has won five straight since her loss to Cortez, including a win over longtime contender Mayra Bueno Silva this February, followed by a shocking destruction of former strawweight champ Jessica Andrade at UFC 315 in May. Over the last two years, Jasudavicius has rounded out her skill set, maximizing her physical advantages while working around her limitations.

She is a huge flyweight as well, and while she does not have the quickest hands or feet by the standards of the division, her striking has improved enormously over the past three years. At this point, she is a diligent boxer who moves well and throws in combination, capable of holding her own against most opponents until she can get them into her wheelhouse. She is an excellent wrestler who can shoot a double-leg from the outside, switch to a single-leg and run the pipe, or just as easily tip a shorter woman over in the clinch with underhooks and a trip, like a female Jon Jones. Once on the ground, Jasudavicius is suffocating: heavy on top, hammering her foe with strikes while looking to move to mount or to take the back, where she finishes with chokes that are lightning-quick in setup and execution.

Fiorot is the heavy favorite here, understandably so. The conventional wisdom holds that Jasudavicius will struggle to track down the quicker Fiorot, eating jabs and crosses the whole time, and even once she gets her hands on her, there’s no guarantee she will be able to take her down. After rewatching their last few fights, however, I’m leaning the other way. The pick is for Jasudavicius to pull off the upset in a fight where she struggles to get takedowns early but has more success than expected on the feet, then finally gets her ground game going in the third round and picks up a razor-close, maybe even controversial decision.



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de Ridder vs. Allen
Holland vs. Malott
Vera vs. Zahabi
Fiorot vs. Jasudavicius
Gibson vs. Aori
Nelson vs. Frevola
The Prelims