Instability and opportunity permeate the UFC women's flyweight division, which crowned a new champion two weeks ago and has a former two-time champ lurking in the wings while healing from injury. Several other title hopefuls have been jostling to position themselves to go for the gold.
Jasmine Jasudavicius seized the opportunity to make her presence felt among the leading contenders Saturday, dominating Erin Blanchfield on the canvas in a clash of top-10 125-pounders to win by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night in Edmonton, Alberta.
The fight was the co-main event of a card headlined by Mike Malott's explosive knockout win over Joaquin Buckley. Malott, who like Jasudavicius is from Ontario and had the crowd firmly behind him, landed a knee to the chin that crumbled Buckley, who is No. 8 in the ESPN welterweight rankings and lost his third in a row.
"Hey, guys, I might be soft-spoken," Malott said afterward, "but I'm f---ing hard-hitting."
Malott's knockout came at 2 minutes, 32 seconds of the second round and put a ferocious cap on an event that tied a UFC record with 12 finishes (seven knockouts, five submissions). The other modern-era fight card with a dozen finishes was UFC Fight Night in Belgrade, Serbia, on Aug. 1.
Nevertheless, it was the night's lone bout to go the distance that had the highest stakes. Jasudavicius, No. 8 in the ESPN women's flyweight rankings, pulled off the upset against third-ranked Blanchfield, who came in situated behind only injured former champion Valentina Shevchenko and new titlist Natalia Silva. Blanchfield is also No. 9 in the ESPN women's pound-for-pound top 10.
Jasudavicius (16-4) surely elevated her standing in the 125-pound hierarchy with a robust performance that produced her second straight victory. Both women came in touted as elite grapplers, and Jasudavicius proved to be a step ahead by repeatedly taking the fight to the ground (five takedowns) and threatening submissions from dominant positions for long stretches of the first two rounds.
"I love grappling," she said. "I understand it. I'm pretty good at it. And I like to show what I've got."
Jasudavicius showed enough to impress the judges, getting the nod on all three scorecards (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). The announcement of the verdict drew a roar from the crowd, which was enthusiastically behind the 37-year-old competing in her home country.
"To be able to fight in Canada, you hear the crowd, man. We're about it," Jasudavicius said.
Jasudavicius and Malott were among a dozen Canadian fighters on the card, who went a combined 5-7.
Jasudavicius' victory might not put her in position for an immediate title shot, but she has her sights on a future meeting with the new champ, who defeated her by decision in 2022 in her second UFC fight.
"I want to cross paths with Natalia Silva again," Jasudavicius said. "We had a little bit of history before, so it would be an epic story."
For Blanchfield (14-3), the defeat halted a two-fight winning streak. She outlanded Jasudavicius 62-43 in significant strikes, but the author of five UFC submissions never could get her ground game going. Jasudavicius put Blanchfield on the defensive the whole fight with nearly eight minutes of control time.