Virna Jandiroba wants to cement her position as the next contender for Zhang Weili’s UFC strawweight title with a win over Amanda Lemos at UFC Vegas 94 this Saturday.
A winner of her past three UFC bouts, the jiu-jitsu ace feels she could earn the opportunity with an impressive victory and surpass undefeated Tatiana Suarez in the run for gold following previous wins over Loopy Godinez, Marina Rodriguez, and Angela Hill.
“I definitely think [I’m next],” Jandiroba told MMA Fighting. “The two top-five fighters that haven’t fought for the title yet are myself and Tatiana, and we’re two fresh names. I think that a win over Amanda Lemos does take me to a title fight.”
Jandiroba said possibly being on the verge of competing for a belt “obviously brings extra weight” to a fight, “but I try to handle with it the best way possible.”
“The belt is something I’ve always said I want so bad,” Jandiroba said. “Not the belt itself, but what it represents. It’s the symbol of a dream. But I’m focused on this fight first, right? I have to win this fight first and then — we obviously think about it because we’re close to it, it could be the next step, but I try to focus on this fight to also take that weight away a little bit. Saturday is the future. We have to think about this future first.”
Jandiroba has won the majority of her MMA wins by submission, a list that includes UFC stoppages of Felice Herrig and Mallory Martin as well as a successful Invicta FC title defense over Janaisa Morandin. On the other side, Lemos, who lost a decision when challenging Zhang in 2023, brings an opposite fighting style with several knockouts to her credit.
“We’re both complete athletes, obviously, but we have pretty distinct games,” Jandiroba said. “She’s more of a striker and I come from a grappling background, and I have fought many strikers before, although I’ve been tested on the ground as well. I have the utmost respect for Amanda’s story, she’s a very dangerous girl, but I’ve faced this type of matchup many times before in my career.”
Lemos won a three-round decision over jiu-jitsu legend Mackenzie Dern in her most recent bout. Jandiroba broke the fight down in camp and saw many openings left by Lemos that Jandiroba believes she would’ve taken advantage of “because my jiu-jitsu is different.”
“We have similar styles but we’re far different in many aspects as well,” Jandiroba said of her grappling compared to Dern’s. “I’ve studied how Amanda behaved in that fight, even on the ground, and we could see a lot of things, a lot of holes, but also things Amanda does well. I’m ready to fight five rounds if it goes that long, but I think it can end early because we both go for the finish.”
