That’s some bet: if she one day makes it to the UFC, Jasmine Jasudavicius’ best friend is required to get fresh ink — of the strawweight’s face!
Jasmine Jasudavicius takes on Elise Reed for the vacant CFFC strawweight title in just under a week’s time. The bout goes down August 13 at CFFC 83, with the event broadcast live on UFC Fight Pass. To add a bit of trivia, this night of fights emanates from 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — what was formerly known as the ECW Arena. There, things will likely get extreme as these two undefeated pros look to preserve their unbeaten records.
While some are a bit down about the circumstances of 2020, others like Canada’s Jasmine Jasudavicius are adapting. “We’ve been taking advantage of being outside in the summer. Just got a nice pool and really building those lungs. It’s crazy how much of a workout you can do in a pool.”
“The circumstances have kind of forced us to try these things,” Jasudavicius continued. “Which I’m actually really happy about. Moving forward I’m going to definitely use it in future camps. I feel like it really, really builds my lungs up. I love it. It’s tough.”
Jasmine Jasudavicius
The realities of pandemic life include smaller groups and interacting with certain regulatory measures in mind. Though this is present for Jasudavicius’ training, she’s still been able to be around killers with big upcoming fights in their own right.
“We have a small group that we’re working with. Luckily we’ve only been in contact with each other. This whole entire time, we’ve got Anthony Romero. He’s preparing for his big Contender Series fight,” she revealed. “He’s in the gym training. We have both him and I as well as Aaron Jeffery. He’s got a fight. So all of us, we need our partners. We’ve been fortunate enough that our coaches are able to work with us and we’re able to get into the gym.”
The last few months have provided a lot of time to work wrestling with COVID-19 rampant. Chris Prickett has been working steadily with her and Jasudavicius has worked extensively through the years with the acclaimed Brock University Wrestling team in St. Catharines, Ontario.
“Wrestling’s so hard on your body. The Brock practices are like two hours a night. They’re super intense… You’re exhausted the next day. It’s hard to do a hard wrestling practice and the next morning to have any pop in your step for say like sparring or striking,” she admitted. “So we will out of camp work a lot more wrestling.”
The Niagara region native is happy to be at strawweight for this one. She has often had to take catchweight bouts or fight out of her preferred weight class.
“I had known that there was an option and that they were looking for an opponent for about two weeks. I got it locked in and am looking forward to it. She signed the contract and finally at 115, I’m going to be able to fight at the correct weight class,” Jasudavicius said. “So it’ll be good.”
The Bet
Jasudavicius admits that she doesn’t watch her opponents too much. The game planning and tape watching, rather, is allocated to her coaches. Jasudavicius does seem to respect Reed though and knows of her pronounced amateur MMA experience heading into his one.
In her own career, each performance has been highlight-reel worthy but BTC 8 was a unique night for the Niagara Top Team fighter. Not only did Jasudavicius score the quickest stoppage in promotional history but she finally got to compete in front of her hometown compatriots.
“That was absolutely amazing. It was nice,” she exclaimed. “It was in Niagara Falls, literally ten minutes from my doorstep. All my friends and family were finally able to make it. But most of my fights prior have been at least two hours away if not more. So only so many people can really make it to those. So it was great I was able to put on such a dominant performance in my hometown.”
She would love to fight at home again, and Jasudavicius cannot wait for another opportunity. Although these highlight-reel kind of performances are likely nerve-wracking to a good friend of Jasudavicius. One who has an interesting bet with the fighter. Her best friend made a bet whereby she would get a tattoo of Jasmine’s face on her body if she gets to the UFC.
“She has come to a couple of my fights now. She’s accepted that she’s getting this tattoo. It’s so funny because it’s just like a known thing with our friends now,” explained Jasudavicius. But hey, what’s a little more ink, right? But wait. “It’s not like she’s tatted up all over and it will just be an additional thing. She only has one other tattoo and it’s going to be so perfect.”
We sure hope so!
Jasmine Jasudavicius has a chance to build an even stronger case for winning this tattoo bet on Thursday, August 13. She takes on Elise Reed for the vacant Cage Fury FC strawweight title at CFFC 83. The event will broadcast on UFC Fight Pass.
