Canada’s Jasmine Jasudavicius and Ariane Da Silva faced off in a battle of ranked flyweights at UFC Edmonton at the Rogers Place on Saturday.
Jasudavicius, #14 in the division, was looking to make it three wins in a row (and three wins in 2024) against the #13-ranked Da Silva, known as “The Queen of Violence.”
Ariane looked to find her range early throwing out a leg kick and a boxing combination that landed just short. Both fighters looked a bit nervous to get into that first exchange. Da Silva clipped Jasmine with a straight right hand and the power difference could be seen immediately. Jasmine landed a skipping leg kick and faked a level change midway thru the round that got a huge reaction out of her opponent. Seconds later, Jasudavicius faked grabbing a leg and looked to connect with some punches of her own. Jasmine began to advance and apply forward pressure. Da Silva lit her up with a boxing combination punctuated by a head kick getting a huge reaction from the crowd. Jasudavicius ate the head kick, caught the leg, and took her opponent down. Da Silva immediately rolled and attacked the leg. Jasmine rained down strikes and stacked her opponent landing some good strikes before the end of the round.
Both fighters opened up at the start of the second round. Da Silva continued to land the crisper strikes and snapped the head back of Jasmine. A little over a minute into the round and Jasmine landed a well-timed single leg takedown. Once on the ground, Jasudavicius quickly moved to side control a dropped stinging short strikes to the face of Ariane. With a minute left in the round Jasmine piled on more strikes. Somehow, Da Silva made it to the end of the round, badly lumped up on her forehead as the two broke when the timer sounded.
The final round began with Da Silva still throwing her long boxing combinations but keeping her hands very low and hips back. Jasudavicius waited till about a minute into the round and midway thru one of Da Silva’s combinations shot and successfully put her opponent back on the ground. Ariane really didn’t seem to have an answer for Jasmine’s grappling on the ground. Nearly midway thru the round and Jasmine skillfully moved to a d’arce choke. After securing the leg, Da Silva had no choice but to tap.
In her post fight interview Jasmine, clearly overjoyed, expressed how happy she was to get the victory and be on the main card in front of her hometown fans. “Thats just one of my favorite chokes.” Jasmine said when asked if an anaconda choke was something that she had identified as a weakness of her opponent. And when asked who she would like to fight after this huge, ranked stoppage victory, Jasmine replied, “Whoever will take it.” and stated that she was on a mission to the belt.
Official Result: Jasmine Jasudavicius def. Ariane Da Silva by Submission (d’arce choke), Round 3, 2:28
