Athletes
Jasmine Jasudavicius: Here For A Good Time, Not A Long Time
Energetic Canadian Discusses UFC 297 Win, Welcoming Fatima Kline To The UFC
Jasmine Jasudavicius is, as the kids would say, a vibe.
The 35-year-old Niagara Top Team representative and Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) graduate is a bundle of giggles and frenetic energy at all times, but even more so just a few days out from making the walk to the Octagon again to square off with newcomer Fatima Kline on Saturday. She shifts in her chair, smiling and snickering her way through our interview, her free hand never not moving; six months of working and waiting ready to be unleashed at Ball Arena this weekend.
“I get a little bit of an edge, and I know this,” she says, addressing her pre-fight energy and a video from her Instagram account where she jokes about needing to be kept in her cage, away from people as training camp continually ticks on. “I understand it's part of the process, so I try to stay to myself a lot, that way there is no one to snap on or anything.
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“I even feel it if people are getting in the car quick, I get,” she says, her words trailing off as she pantomimes hurrying people into the car, cursing under her breath. “But I can harness it. It’s a continual build and then on fight night, that's when it can be unleashed.”
Everyone saw that process of release earlier this year at UFC 297 in Toronto.
Positioned against veteran Priscila Cachoeira, Jasudavicius built up a little additional animus towards her opponent when the Brazilian was unable to make the flyweight limit, resulting in the bout being shifted to bantamweight just a couple days ahead of the contest. Midway through her walk to the Octagon, she shifted into “business mode” and once the fight began, she made Cachoeira pay, doling out two 10-8 rounds worth of punishment before finally submitting her in the waning moments of the third round.
“My team always teases me, like, ‘Okay Jas — enjoy it, but we’re here for business’ because the walkout is so hype,” offers Jasudavicius, who carries a 10-3 record into her second appearance of 2024 this weekend. “It’s one of my favorite things — high-fiving everyone, and I always try to pick a walkout song that will get the crowd going — but it gets to a point where I’m like, ‘I’m done enjoying this; now it’s time for serious business.’
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“So I’ll take that breath and that's when the switch (flips) and all that poison is unleashed.
“It’s very fulfilling because I’m in the gym every day; I work my frickin’ *** off, man,” she adds when asked about her performance. “It’s very fulfilling because I work so hard every day. I’m always in the gym or thinking about martial arts. There is nothing in my life that doesn’t revolve around getting better at martial arts, and that, in turn, gets my life better.
Jasmine Jasudavicius Fight Week Interview | UFC Denver
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Jasmine Jasudavicius Fight Week Interview | UFC Denver
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“It’s nice to see all my hard work, the fruits of my labor fulfilled in the Octagon.”
Originally scheduled to face veteran Viviane Araujo, the ascending Canadian will instead welcome Kline to the UFC on Saturday night.
“It was mid-afternoon, I got a message from Mick Maynard, and you never want to see that message, at least not in camp,” she says with a laugh, recounting when she learned about the shift in opponents. “He said, ‘We lost Viviane,’ and at first, I said, ‘Well go find her; we’re a week away.’
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“He was like, ‘We’ve got this girl,’ I said, “Thanks for the update' and showed my team. We were already down in Denver, staying at this really cool AirBNB, so I showed the guys and said, ‘You guys deal with this; I’m gonna go take a nap.’ That’s my way to solve these things. I woke up, came out, and said, ‘What’s the game plan?’”
Stylistically, it’s a shift, moving from the bouncy, striking-focused Araujo to the unbeaten Kline, a Brazilian jiu jitsu stylist that trains alongside flyweight contender Erin Blanchfield and earned “Double Champ” status under the CFFC banner, claiming gold at both flyweight and strawweight.
But like many competitors, Jasudavicius and her team don’t tailor the training camp to the person that is going to be standing on the other side of the cage, opting instead to concentrate on sharpening her weapons and doing whatever it takes to ensure she's at her best come fight night.
“During camp, I’m not preparing for,” she begins, quickly cutting herself off to make sure she presents her thoughts fully. “Yes, I’m preparing for an opponent, but, at the same time, I'm preparing to be the best version of myself, so the opponent almost doesn’t matter. When it got changed, we just roll with it.”
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In addition to her opponent getting changed, the role Jasudivicius is playing this weekend did, as well.
Against Araujo, she was fighting forward in the rankings — the hard-charging, feisty hopeful looking to register the biggest win of her career and take another step forward in her quest to work her way into title contention. Now, against Kline, she’s the tenured veteran — the ranked fighter that successfully navigated her way through Contender Series and six previous Octagon appearances, looking to show the newcomer that things are a little different at this level.
“I think that’s a huge benefit I have,” she says of her experience advantage over Kline, who signed on to compete on the upcoming season of the Contender Series a day before being chosen to replace Araujo. “I remember my debut like it was yesterday, and I’m thankful that I was able to go through Contender Series first, and then have the debut.
“I’m not here for a long time, I’m here for a good time,” adds Jasudavicius, who genuinely seems to enjoy every element of this life she’s built for herself. “So I'm trying to fight often, get that experience in, and ideally, keep making my way up to get that belt.”
So what constitutes a good time on Saturday night?
“Getting my hand raised.”
UFC Fight Night: Namajunas vs Cortez took place live from Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado on July 13, 2024. See the Final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
