Virna Jandiroba punched her ticket to a shot at the strawweight world title with a dominant performance against the division’s top-ranked contender, Yan Xiaonan, at UFC 314 on Saturday night.
As expected, Jandiroba went for an early takedown, but Xiaonan defended well and stayed upright. Two minutes into the opening round, Jandiroba shot in for another attempt. This time, she managed to muscle Xiaonan down to the man near the fence.
Jandiroba stepped over into side control and immediately went for an armbar, but Xiaonan saw it coming and quickly got her arm out of danger. Xiaonan got Jandiroba back into her guard, but ate some solid ground-and-pound strikes. Jadiroba again fished for an armbar attempt with only seconds left on the clock, but ‘Nine’ managed to make it out of the round.
Jandiroba wasted no time returning Xiaonan to the mat in the second stanza and quickly took her back. Jandiroba once again locked in an armbar with seconds to go in the round, but Xiaonan defended and made it back to her stool.
It took a little longer to get Xiaonan down to the mat in the third. Nevertheless, she muscled down the top-ranked contender with over two minutes to go in the fight despite Xiaonan blatantly grabbing the fence. Jandiroba took Xiaonan’s back and maintained control through the remainder of the round, putting a cap on an utterly dominant performance against the former strawweight title challenger.
Official Result: Virna Jandiroba def. Yan Xiaonan via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Check out highlights from Virna Jandiroba vs. Yan Xiaonan at UFC 314:
