“I don’t know if I’m staying cool,” she laughs. “But I’m doing everything that I possibly think is right and not taking any shortcuts. My diet’s on, I’m not screwing around with my training, I’m not missing sessions, I’m not making excuses. I’m not missing my morning runs even though my body feels like complete death. I don’t even know what day it is because they’re all mashing into each other. But if I do all the work, then regardless of the outcome, I can be happy because I tried my best. I didn’t try to cheat anything. And I believe doing what I did will get the win. It’s about your character. If you have good character and you’re gonna do that hard work, you’re gonna reach your potential.”
Now that’s a lot of work for those t-shirts, but Jasudavicius has never been afraid of hard work. Subsequently, the buzz about her making it to the big show started back when she was an amateur, and it only got louder when she won her first four pro fights. But then came a split decision defeat to Elise Reed in August of 2020, and she had to reset.
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“You know how going into the fight you gotta have a good mindset, like dream-believe-achieve and stuff?” she said. “Going into that fight, I believed that I was gonna win. I did everything right and I thought I was gonna win, so when I didn’t, it was a tough pill to swallow. And it’s funny because everybody says it, but it really is the best thing that happens to you. It definitely caught me off guard, though. Before that fight, I figured the next step could potentially be the UFC, and then after the loss, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, how far does this put me back?’ And I was fortunate to only have one fight to get back into that spot. But yeah, it was heartbreaking, that loss.”
Seven months later, Jasudavicius moved to 5-1 with a win over Ashley Deen, and by September of last year, she was fighting in the UFC APEX against Polastri. Three rounds later, she had a win and a UFC deal.