Local favourite ready to battle
Thorold woman putting 2-0 pro record on the line on MMA fight card at Scotiabank Centre
An hour before her second training session of the day, in a mixed martial arts gym in St. Catharines, Jasmine Jasudavicius isn’t using her free time to recover and reset.
Instead on this cold, November evening, she’s helping the instructor at Niagara Top Team teach a group of young fighters the art of striking.
For the full-time fighter who lives in Thorold, this isn’t a circle-of-life moment. She was never the young child learning muay Thai or taekwondo; she didn’t grow up wrestling or boxing.
She was athletic, playing soccer and basketball, but nothing in her life foreshadowed the professional MMA fighter she was to become.
Except for one unfailing trait. “I was always scrappy, playing with boys and everything,” Jasudavicius recalled. “But, no. No background in any of it.”
On Saturday night, the 30year-old fighter will make her hometown debut on the main card at the BTC: 8 Eliminator at Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls.
Facing American Christina Ricker, 2-2-0, for the flyweight title (125 lbs.), Jasudavicius will put her undefeated record on the line, 2-0-0, as well as a sixfight win streak that includes four amateur fights.
But right now, that isn’t something she’s thinking about.
“Obviously, it’s awesome being undefeated. But, at the same time, I train as if I’m not undefeated, partly because I get beat up all the time by the guys,” Jasudavicius said.
“I take my beatings elsewhere as opposed to in the cage.”
But she can’t help but acknowledge the significance that comes with that record.
“There’s pressure behind it, but I don’t think of that before I go into the cage or anything,” Jasudavicius said. “But, yeah, if I were to sit here right now and think about it …”
Four years ago, this entire experience would have been unimaginable for the Niagara native.
Jasudavicius was 26 working at a local youth homeless shelter when she met a friend who was a training UFC fighter, Jason Sago.
She watched their sparring sessions and started training herself slowly. But it wasn’t until a training trip with the Brock wrestling team that everything changed.
“I was doing practice, and I loved it,” Jasudavicius said. “I started actually training more consistently. Because then I’m like, this is actually legit.
“I can actually see myself enjoying this lifestyle.”
When her coach said she was ready for her first amateur fight — in November 2017 — Jasudavicius was all in.
“Once I decided to take the fight, then I was 100 per cent. I’m not going to get in the cage not being fully prepared,” Jasudavicius said, who cleaned up her diet and doubled her training sessions.
The work paid off with a thirdround submission, and from there, “I was in love,” she said. Jasudavicius remembered walking into the venue of her first professional fight in Pittsburgh, seeing the cage centre stage and all the seats and feeling the weight of the moment.
“It was the first time that I really, really got anxious. It was uncomfortable,” she explained. “With your amateur career, if you lose, it’s not a big deal.”
But once she stepped into the cage against American Brigid Chase, the fight went quickly, with Jasudavicius getting the submission just more than a minute into the second round to secure her first professional win.
Her second fight came two months later in Plymouth, Mass. It was the first-ever female main event for Cage Titans — “I didn’t know that until they told me there,” Jasudavicius said — against hometown favourite Kylie O’Hearn.
Walking into hostile territory was nerve-racking, and the fight itself was a “battle” for the Canadian.
“We both have a similar style, we both want to keep moving forward,” said Jasudavicius, who earned the unanimous decision in the third round.
“We both tried to impose our will on each other. It just went back and forth, just brawling.”
In the lead-up to her third professional fight Saturday night, Jasudavicius is rotating between striking, grappling and jujitsu training sessions at Niagara
Top Team and Para Bellum MMA in Oakville.
She works on wrestling at Brock as the wrestlers gear up for Olympic trials.
Last month Jasudavicius spent time in Las Vegas training with a group of female fighters, including the UFC’s Joanne (JoJo) Calderwood and Roxanne Modafferi.
“To work with them (was) such an honour,” Jasudavicius said about the experience. “They’re savages — it’s crazy how good they are — but they’re the sweetest people off the mat.”
She may only have four years of training, but Jasudavicius has made a name for herself in the MMA world. She has dedicated herself to becoming a well-rounded, dominant fighter despite her late start.
“As silly as it sounds, fighting is my life, and I think that’s why, even though I’ve only been doing it four years, I’ve put so many hours into it,” Jasudavicius said.
When Jasudavicius steps into the cage at Scotiabank Centre, she will be doing it for the first time as the hometown favourite.
And the chance to be part of Niagara Falls’ first professional MMA bout is not something she is taking for granted.
“I’m so excited. People from the wrestling team are able to come. People from the gym. All my friends. I can’t wait.”
She will also get to share the experience with her training partners, as both Niagara Top Team and Para Bellum have fighters on the card.
BTC: 8 Eliminator, Niagara Falls’s first professional MMA event hosted by BTC Fight Promotions, will start at 6 p.m. Tickets are available by phone at 905-396-2639 or online at btcfight.ca/live.
“Once I decided to take the fight, then I was 100 per cent. I’m not going to get in the cage not being fully prepared.” JASMINE JASUDAVICIUS MIXED MARTIAL ARTS FIGHTER