Jasmine Jasudavicius walked into Rogers Place on Saturday as the underdog against the woman most people would have called the best grappler at 125 pounds. She walked out with a decision win and a knot on her forehead that ESPN MMA posted a close-up of. By Sunday, per an MMA Sucka headline, she was calling herself the best grappler in MMA.
That’s a bold claim. I’ll take it seriously, because the evidence she brought to Edmonton is the strongest kind available in this division.
Why the Blanchfield win carries so much weight
Start with who was across from her. Erin Blanchfield came in ranked No. 5 at flyweight and No. 9 pound-for-pound in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings, with exactly one UFC loss on her record. Her grappling gets the attention and has since her Invicta days. MMA Fighting’s prediction piece picked Blanchfield to set the tone with takedowns and submit Jasudavicius in Round 2. That would have made her the first woman to do it. It was a reasonable pick, and I’d have leaned the same way.
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Instead, per MMA Fighting’s recap, Jasudavicius used her own grappling attack to neutralize Blanchfield through the first two rounds. By the final bell there was no real doubt about whose hand was going up. Neutralize is the word that matters. Beating a striker on the mat proves you can wrestle. Holding a grappler of Blanchfield’s level in spots she can’t work from, for 10 minutes, proves something rarer. It means your hips, your control and your top game beat hers when you both want the same position. Uncrowned’s account called the grappling “on a different level.” Ariel Helwani quoted it with a Canadian flag and an instruction for Frankie to hit the drop. (I’ll leave the music cues to Ariel.)
At the post-fight press conference, Jasudavicius gave a scouting report on herself: “She’s obviously a talented grappler, but I’m big, I’m strong, I’m really good at grappling.” She also said she believed Blanchfield underestimated her. Maybe so. I put more stock in the first part, because size and strength decide a lot of flyweight scrambles. She also weighed in at 124.5 pounds Friday, a half-pound under Blanchfield’s 125, with none of the drama that a couple of other fighters on the card ran into. I’ll take a grappler who makes weight cleanly every time. The alternative is watching somebody’s tank empty by the middle round.
Where I pump the brakes
“Best grappler in MMA” covers a lot of ground, and one night doesn’t win that argument by itself, even a great night. The knot on her forehead says these weren’t a free 15 minutes. Her record also has real dents. Manon Fiorot beat her before she rebounded against Karine Silva, and Natalia Silva won a lopsided decision over her at UFC Austin in 2022.
So here’s where I land. At women’s flyweight, I’m buying the claim today. She beat the division’s premier grappler at her own game, as the underdog. That gives her two straight wins and seven of her past eight. Across the whole sport, the title belongs to whoever can keep doing this against different styles, and she’s one fight into making that case.
The Silva problem, and why it’s a good one
Silva holds the belt after beating Wang Cong at UFC 332 for the vacant title while Valentina Shevchenko was out injured. Jasudavicius wants the rematch, and her case was a sensible one. She said she went into the first fight with no information on Silva. She added that anyone comparing her from three years ago to now would see a different fighter, and said the same is true of Silva. She said that knowing Silva’s style now, she’d prepare differently.
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That was the most encouraging thing she said all weekend. I’d rank it above the best-grappler line, honestly. A fighter who studies a lopsided loss and builds a different plan is the kind who makes a rematch worth booking. The version of her who neutralized Blanchfield on Saturday is not the version Silva handled in Austin.
The path forward depends on Shevchenko. If she’s ready to come back soon, she presumably gets her shot at the belt she never lost in the cage, and Jasudavicius waits for the Silva-Shevchenko winner. If Shevchenko’s timeline drags, MMA Fighting’s preview pointed out that the door opens for whoever won Saturday’s co-main. That was Jasudavicius. I’d rather see the matchmakers book her with Silva than leave her sitting on the sidelines.
My pick: Jasudavicius is the next challenger at 125 no matter which champion she ends up facing. Her best-grappler claim gets its real exam against the woman who beat her four years ago.
