Las Vegas, NV — Brazil’s Virna Jandiroba gave Felice Herrig a rude welcome back to the octagon at UFC 252.
Herrig’s return on Saturday was her first fight since 2018. Jandiroba (16-1) wouldn’t arrive in the UFC until six months later. After falling to ex-115lb champ Carla Esparza in her debut, Jandiroba, a former Invicta FC champion, has now won two straight.
Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press, “Carcara” said that “we had two plans. I knew that it was either going to be a quick finish, quick submission, or if she defended well, it might to go two to three rounds, and it was going to be a tough fight. Luckily, Plan A worked.”
While Herrig is known as a decent grappler, Jandiroba explained that “I was methodical about it. Felice is a really good grappler, but I knew that if I kept my pressure and kept working, inch by inch I could get to the position that I needed to, to get the finish.”
With two straight wins, Jandiroba is off and running in the strawweight division. She’s not ready to call anyone out just yet however. “I don’t have an opponent in mind specifically, but I know that I want to climb the rankings. So that’s my goal now, I want to get more ranked opponents and keep climbing. ”
“If they can give me a top ten, awesome, if they can give me a top five that would be really cool,” she added. “But I just want to keep climbing the rankings and get to the top.”
Virna Jandiroba did have one request following her win over Herrig, however.
“If I could ask anything, I would ask Dana [White] to maybe put me on the Island in the next batch. I really like that,” Jandiroba said, in reference to Abu Dhabi’s Fight Island. “I’m fine, I didn’t get injured, I’m okay to fight next week, but I really would like a chance to fight on the Island next.”
Watch the full UFC 252 post-fight press conference with Virna Jandiroba above.
