Jasmine Jasudavicius left Rogers Place on Saturday night with a decision win over Erin Blanchfield and a knot on her forehead big enough that ESPN posted a photo of it. By Monday she also had a $10,000 fine attached to her name, handed down over an alleged Zyn nicotine pouch at UFC Edmonton, and UFC officials are now attempting to help her, according to Yahoo Sports.
The Yahoo report doesn’t lay out what form that help is taking, and so far the public picture is thin. What’s known is the dollar figure, the alleged pouch, and the timing: regulatory officials levied the penalty shortly after the event, which means it arrived on the heels of the most important performance of her UFC career.
And it was a performance. Jasudavicius and Blanchfield met in the co-main event of the Oct. 17 card in Edmonton, Alberta, a flyweight fight framed going in as a possible title eliminator. MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings had Blanchfield at No. 5 and No. 9 pound-for-pound, with Jasudavicius at No. 9 and No. 19 pound-for-pound. MMA Fighting’s own pick had Blanchfield taking her down early and submitting her in Round 2, which would have made Blanchfield the first woman to submit Jasudavicius. The fight went the other way. UFC Canada called it a dominant outing, and Uncrowned’s account wrote, “Statement win for Jasmine Jasudavicius. Grappling was on a different level.” Ariel Helwani quoted that post on X with a simple “Hit the drop, Frankie 🇨🇦” for the Edmonton faithful.
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That grappling detail is what makes the result so striking. Blanchfield’s whole reputation was built on the mat, going back to her days as a blue-chip prospect in Invicta FC, and she had lost just once in the UFC before Saturday. Jasudavicius beat her in her own neighborhood. Afterward, per MMA Fighting, Jasudavicius said she believes Blanchfield made the mistake of underestimating her.
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The win puts her squarely in the flyweight title conversation. Natalia Silva holds the belt, and Valentina Shevchenko is presumed to get her shot at the title she never lost in the cage whenever she’s ready to return. Before the card, MMA Fighting floated the idea that a convincing enough winner in Edmonton could simply wait for the Silva vs. Shevchenko winner, or step in if Shevchenko takes too long. Jasudavicius just made that case about as loudly as anyone could. The main event, for the record, went to another Canadian, as Mike Malott knocked out Joaquin Buckley.
My take: the UFC getting involved is the right instinct, and it should push hard. This is a fighter who spent years grinding toward a night like Saturday, who walked out of the cage with her forehead swollen and the best wrestler in the division beaten, and the first thing she gets afterward is a five-figure penalty over an alleged nicotine pouch. Whatever the rule on the books says, a $10,000 fine for that, on that night, is wildly out of proportion to anything that could have affected the fight. I’ll be watching for what the UFC actually secures for her, because the knot on her head should be the only lasting souvenir from Edmonton.
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