When top 10 women’s flyweight Jasmine Jasudavicius next steps into the cage, it will without hyperbole be in the biggest fight of her career.
At UFC 315 in Montreal, Jasudavicius, one of the most recognizble Canadians on the UFC roster, will face off against former women’s strawweight champion and flyweight title challenger Jessica Andrade.
The fight is a massive one, with the streaking Jasudavicius ranked #9 at 125lbs, while Andrade sits at #7. The appeal of the fight has lured Jasudavicius back to action a little bit earlier than planned, she told Cageside Press as she prepared to buckle down and enter fight camp with an eye on claiming her fifth consecutive win.
“I planned on taking time off. I’ve been very active. Since 2023, I’ve fought seven times. And so I’ve been very, very active,” she noted. That activity had led to plans for a little break. A couple of fights back, around UFC Edmonton last fall, Jasudavicius told herself that she would take some time off. “And then the Saudi Arabia fight came about, so I was like ‘oh I’ve got to jump on this opportunity.'”
Jasudavicius changed her plans up, and instead considered taking time off after her win over Mayra Bueno Silva in Saudi Arabia in February – the first ever women’s UFC fight in the Kingdom. “And then the card [UFC 315] was in Montreal. I’m like ‘how can I pass this up?'”
Of course it wasn’t just the location of the May Pay-Per-View event, but the name she would be facing. Jessica Andrade has been with the UFC for over a decade now, and like Jasudavicius has competed in three weight classes for the promotion. The Brazilian remains one of the top names on the roster, and a win over her would land Canada’s Jasudavicius in the title picture at 125lbs.
“I love it. Every step to be able to get to the belt is ideal,” Jasudavicius said about the stakes involved in the fight. “And her having the belt before, she was a very talented girl, and to be able to perform against her would propel me to where I believe I can be, and where I want to be in order to fight for that belt.”
And so, following a bit of winter camping about a week or so back, Jasudavicius jumps right back into camp for her second fight of 2025. As to when the offer for the fight came, Jasmine isn’t even sure, but there wasn’t any hesitation on her side. Or her team’s.
“I actually am not to sure because I always tell my coaches and my team, after a fight, don’t talk to me about a fight for one week. I don’t want to hear nothing about it, I want to enjoy my time off, I want to relax, I don’t want to think about fighting and getting into the cage for one week. Give me one week, and don’t talk to me about it,” she noted. “I’m pretty sure they’d already been talking about it, like I heard kind of like whispers behind my back about it. So I know they had ideas, the coaches made jokes on the bus ride back from the venue [in Saudi Arabia] that they were talking about the Montreal card. Like ‘shut up!'”
Yet here we are. Jasudavicius continues to plough through her UFC career at a breakneck pace, looking to build on a four-fight win streak compiled in roughly 12 months that includes two post-fight bonuses. The fights continue to get bigger, but is there more pressure on her side, or Jessica Andrade’s? The Brazilian is, of course, the former champion here.
“I mean, there’s both. There obviously is pressure that comes with it, but as they say, pressure makes diamonds,” stated Jasudavicius. “And I’m thankful for the opportunities that I get. No matter what, there’s going to be those nerves and there’s going to be the pressure that comes with it. If it was easy, everyone would do it. And so I kind of go like ‘bring it on baby, I can take it.'”
Jasmine Jasudavicius is still in the process of breaking down Andrade, having gone back and watched four or so of her fights so far. There will be more of that, with her coaches alongside her, during fight camp. “That being said, I know what I have in front of me. I know she’s big— well little, but jacked and hits hard. I understand the beast in front of me. So I’m just going to continue to work on me and my skills, and be involved in things that I can control and I can change.”
Also on the UFC 315 card is flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko, defending her title against Manon Fiorot. Should something happen to Fiorot, Jasudavicius is as game as they come and willing to step up as a replacement. Of course, there’s another fight on the card that might take precedence.
“I would love that. I would absolutely love that. Unfortunately, there are two girls, another fight on the card that is a ’25’er, and they’re ranked higher. The [Alexa] Grasso and Natalia Silva fight. So I would assume one of them would kind of get the offer, but if it’s available, I would gladly take it.”
Grasso, however, has already had her trilogy with Shevchenko. That still leaves Silva, but stranger things have happened. Renato Moicano was given a title shot against Islam Makhachev under similar circumstances earlier this year, after all. And there’s one headline Jasudavicius would love to see the day after UFC 315 in Montreal. Four words. “Jasmine Jasudavicius beats Shevchenko.”
Watch our full interview with UFC 315’s Jasmine Jasudavicius above. The event takes place on May 10, 2025 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.
