Virna Jandiroba is set to step into the cage at UFC 321 to face Mackenzie Dern for the vacant women’s strawweight title. This is a rematch of a fight the two had back in 2020, one that Dern won via 29-28 decision, but “Carcara” is confident she’s made enough changes in her career to walk away from Abu Dhabi with the belt.
“It’s great to finally be here,” she told MMA Junkie through a translator. “It’s the the culmination of so many years of work and it’s something that I set as a goal from day one and I’m finally here. I took some bumps on the way, but it’s my time now and finally Saturday’s right around the corner.”
“Technically, physically, you can see a lot of difference,” she said of changes since her 2020 loss to Dern. “But the biggest differential there was my mental state and my self awareness. I did a lot of work on that part of things with the psychology of not just the sport but with myself as an individual, and I think a lot of things clicked and I understood a lot of issues that I had. A lot of things that were always holding me back, they no longer do.”
The shadow that former women’s strawweight champ Zhang Weili still hangs over the division, even as she moves up to flyweight to challenge Valentina Shevchenko for her title. Jandiroba believes that “Magnum” will be back eventually to test her worthiness to hold the belt.
“There’s a very good chance that no matter what happens, Weili eventually comes down again, where she was so dominant,” Jandiroba said.
“I don’t think that not fighting her for the belt maybe brings down the value of the belt. I think the belt itself is the most important thing, no matter who is on the other side of the cage. As a professional, as a person, I would like to have that challenge, to fight someone who has been as dominant as Weili has and really task myself and see. I believe can give her a good fight.”
“I have all the tools to get the win there,” she concluded. “But a fight is always a fight, and I don’t know what’s gonna happen when the door closes, but I think it would be a fantastic challenge for me as a person and as an athlete.”
Jandiroba hasn’t always been the most active, trading back and forth between one and two fights per year. If she has it her way, she hopes to defend the belt more, but not at a Merab Dvalishvili pace.
“Fighting once a year is something I don’t think it would be good for me,” she said. “What I have been doing lately is always two fights a year. With two fights a year, I’m able to do two full camps to prepare properly and really do the work. I think that’ll be ideal as a champion, if I can defend it twice a year, I think it’s the best scenario.”
Jandiroba fights Dern in the co-main event of UFC 321, which is headlined by a heavyweight title clash between newly elevated champion Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane. The fights go down Saturday, October 25th in the afternoon for American fight fans, so set your clocks, be ready a bit earlier, and tune in to MMA Mania for all the UFC 321 results and highlights.