Virna Jandiroba enters her vacant UFC title fight at UFC 321 with a mindset shaped by five years of learning, losing and transformation. The Brazilian grappler will take on Mackenzie Dern this Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, reliving a match that ended in defeat in December 2020.
Virna Jandiroba reflects on the growth since the first Mackenzie Dern fight
Speaking to the press prior to the fight conferenceJandiroba made it clear that the fighter entering the octagon this weekend bears little resemblance to the one who lost the unanimous decision at UFC 256. The 37-year-old reflected on how the first meeting became a turning point instead of a setback.
“I’ve seen that fight several times and I’ve had a lot of time to live and feel that defeat, learn from it and process it. So I don’t see that fight anymore. I don’t watch that fight anymore because I’m a different Virna today. I’ve been through a lot of experiences since the fight against Mackenzie, it’s been five years. So what I took away from that first fight with Mackenzie was the amount of knowledge I learned from that defeat.”
The loss to Dern at UFC 256 was one of three defeats in Jandiroba’s UFC career, but the years since have seen remarkable growth. After that setback, she has compiled a 6-1 record, highlighted by a five-fight winning streak that included a second-round armbar submission of former title challenger Amanda Lemos in July 2024 and a dominant unanimous decision over Yan Xiaonan at UFC 314 in April 2025.
Xiaonan’s victory proved particularly important. Jandiroba controlled the former title challenger for almost ten minutes in three rounds, threatening submissions throughout and earning all three scorecards by a 30-27 margin. The performance secured her position as number one contender in the strawweight division at the age of 37.
Jandiroba’s transformation goes beyond just technical improvements in the cage. She views mental and personal development as the foundation for her athletic progress.
”I have changed a lot in the past five years,” Jandiroba told MMA junkie earlier this week. “I invested a lot of time in getting to know myself better and improving myself as an athlete and as a person. Today I feel like a different woman – more aware, more balanced, and that of course has made me a better fighter. The technical improvements are obvious, but the most important transformation has been mental. I have learned to be kinder to myself, and I think most people would improve their quality of life if they did the same.”
The title opportunity comes following Zhang Weili’s decision to vacate the strawweight championship and move up to flyweight to challenge Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 322 in November. Zhang’s departure ends a dominant reign in which she successfully defended the belt three times after regaining it in November 2022.
“I think the loss was very important, and even more important than the fight itself is what I learned from it. I think I’m a very different person and a very different fighter now than I was then. That’s water under the bridge and it doesn’t really reflect much of what you’re going to see on Saturday. So the most important thing about that fight was still how much I grew from it and how much I learned from it.”
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The vacant title fight unfolds in the co-main event of Tom Aspinall’s heavyweight title defense Ciryl Gane. Dern comes in as a slight betting favorite despite Jandiroba’s recent momentum, with the odds narrowing from an initial -215 in Jandiroba’s favor to around -120 in her favor.
Both fighters acknowledge the other’s evolution since their first meeting. Jandiroba praised Dern’s improvements in striking and wrestling, areas that had been questioned earlier in her career. Dern has an MMA record of 15-5 and has won two straight fights leading up to Saturday, including a submission victory over Amanda Ribas.
The matchup pairs two elite wrestlers who have taken different paths to date. Jandiroba boasts 14 career wins, matching former middleweight contender Demian Maia’s total when she retired. Her recent performances have shown refined control on the mat, averaging 2.29 takedowns per 15 minutes with a 35% accuracy rate and 1.66 submissions per 15 minutes.
The Brazilian’s evolution from defeat in December 2020 to title contender reflects both technical sophistication and fundamental personal growth. Whether that transformation proves to be sufficient against an opponent who has defeated her before will become apparent this Saturday, but Jandiroba’s message remains unequivocal: the fighter Dern’s faces this weekend are not the same ones she defeated five years ago.
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