Virna Jandiroba Plans To Bounce Back Better

That upbeat response hasn’t come at the expense of critical analysis, however. She’s watched her performance back, and uncovered one key aspect of her game that she intends to improve in her upcoming fights.

”Watching it, I think it’s a lot about believing in myself, believing in what I do, believing in my game,” she said. “But, as far as, like, one single thing that I could work on, I believe maybe pushing a little bit more on the ground and pound. (It’s) something that I sometimes focus more on position and getting the submission, but I think I leave the ground and pound a little bit as a second option, and maybe I should focus (on that) a little bit more.”

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After her title fight defeat to Dern in Abu Dhabi, Jandiroba didn’t take long to process her defeat. Indeed, she was plotting her next career move mere minutes after she’d departed the arena. It meant that, when she was offered a matchup for this weekend against Tabatha “Baby Shark” Ricci, the name on the bout agreement came as no surprise.

“Yeah, even coming back from the fight in Abu Dhabi, I was in the ambulance heading to the hospital, and we started doing the math, figuring out who could be next,” she said. “Even back then, Tabatha was already someone that we saw crossing paths, and that's how it turned out.

“I think she has a very good game of mixing the striking and the grappling, and she has a very fun flow in her style. I think her flow, put together with my style, is going to make for a very entertaining fight – not just to watch, but to be in there and be actually competing. I think it's going to be a great fight.”

With an impressive 14 submissions on her record compared to just one knockout, it would be easy to assume that Jandiroba’s best route to success will go via the ground. And while she says she’s fully prepared for wherever the fight takes her, she’s confident that, if the fight does go to the mat, she’ll have the edge.

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“Yeah, we're coming in to do MMA. But I'm as good as she is on all sides of the game,” she stated. “I know that my grappling is where I stand out, so I can never forget that. Eventually we are going to grapple – and when we grapple, I know that I'm going to have the upper hand.”

The fight will also see Jandiroba return to the shorter three-round format against Ricci – a change that she’s more than happy to accept after the tough grind of a five-round fight camp last time out.

“Yeah, I can guarantee that preparing for three rounds a lot easier than preparing for five rounds!” she said.“The whole camp, and the all the preparation coming into the fight, it was a lot lighter this time around compared to last time. But I think that's the thing. I’ve been preparing for three rounds my entire life.”

Victory over Ricci should keep Jandiroba right in the thick of the championship conversation at 115 pounds, though she admits that, with the top of the division looking pretty crowded right now, she may have to stack a couple more wins before she can be confident of landing another shot at championship gold.

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“I’m a little conservative about that,” she admitted. “I think that, looking at how the division is shaping up, there's a couple of fights that are going to dictate where the pieces are going to fall. Zhang is probably coming back, too, so that is definitely going to change a little bit of the dynamic there.

“But I figure one win here, maybe one more, maybe two… I never know how the pieces are going to fall, so I'm just focused on getting this win, and then we’ll see where we end up.”