{"id":237771,"date":"2025-10-24T21:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T21:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/237771\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T21:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T21:07:09","slug":"virna-jandiroba-mackenzie-dern-rematch-a-crowning-moment-for-jiu-jitsu-at-ufc-321","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/237771\/","title":{"rendered":"Virna Jandiroba: Mackenzie Dern rematch \u2018a crowning moment\u2019 for jiu-jitsu at UFC 321"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virna Jandiroba rematches Mackenzie Dern this Saturday at UFC 321 with a vacant strawweight title on the line in Abu Dhabi. A woman who has chased greatness since entering the sport more than a decade ago, \u201cCarcara,\u201d views the UFC belt differently now.<\/p>\n

Jandiroba became Invicta FC champion in 2018, defending the title and transitioning to the UFC a year later. She had stumbled in key moments before starting the five-fight winning streak that culminated to this opportunity. With Zhang Weili out of the scene to challenge Valentina Shevchenko at flyweight, it\u2019s up to Jandiroba and Dern to start a new reign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took years of work to reach this moment,\u201d Jandiroba told MMA Fighting. \u201cI\u2019m going there to claim that belt on Saturday, but I haven\u2019t been waiting to have the belt, the symbol itself, to feel like a champion and be proud of my story and my journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"More<\/a><\/p>\n

More than 70 Gracie meet in Rio de Janeiro Photo by Eduardo Ferreira<\/p>\n

To face a fellow jiu-jitsu practitioner in Abu Dhabi is \u201csymbolic\u201d, Jandiroba said, given the recent cultural impact of the martial art in the country. On top of that, Saturday is an important day for jiu-jitsu as the Gracie family celebrates 100 years of their jiu-jitsu history with a seminar earlier that day in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just incredible,\u201d Jandiroba said of the Gracie jiu-jitsu anniversary. \u201cI really believe in the mystery of the universe, in how it sends out all this energy. I loved finding that out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople value jiu-jitsu a lot here [in Abu Dhabi],\u201d she added. \u201cIt feels like a crowning moment, and I think jiu-jitsu gains a lot from this. I know we\u2019re going to be doing MMA in there, but we express ourselves so much through jiu-jitsu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jandiroba lost a three-round decision against Dern in December 2020, and another decision to Amanda Ribas shortly after she stopped Kanako Murata. Jandiroba said her life changed at that moment, and went on to score victories over Angela Hill, Marina Rodriguez, Lupita Godinez, Amanda Lemos and Yan Xiaonan to get to Abu Dhabi as a title challenger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fight against Mackenzie, like many others \u2014 especially the ones we lose \u2014 brings a lot of learning,\u201d Jandiroba said. \u201cI\u2019m sure that it was the Mackenzie loss, along with my victories, that brought me here. It was about learning and turning certain keys. That\u2019s a positive thing, the fact that we\u2019ve already fought, that I already know her in some way. I tend to perform better in familiar environments, so I think that\u2019s something good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m much more mature now, more complete and more confident,\u201d she continued. \u201cPeople will have to tune in to see the fight, the strategy, and everything else [laughs]. But what I can say is that I\u2019m different. I\u2019ve worked a lot on myself over these years. You can see the changes in my behavior, the technical evolution and everything else, which I think are the results of maturity and of finding my own way to express myself inside the octagon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jandiroba\u2019s current winning streak includes three names that have beaten Dern since their 2020 meeting \u2014 Lemos, Yan and Rodriguez \u2014 and that alone gives her extra confidence to get the job done Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to challenge myself deeply to face these women who are part of the elite of the division, to overcome a lot within myself, both mentally and psychologically,\u201d Jandiroba said. \u201cAll those fights have given me experience, consistency, and confidence for Saturday\u2019s fight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Virna Jandiroba rematches Mackenzie Dern this Saturday at UFC 321 with a vacant strawweight title on the line…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-237771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}