Jasmine Jasudavicius exclusive: “I want to be female Georges St Pierre”

Canadian UFC star Jasmine Jasudavicius previews her biggest fight yet against former flyweight champion Jessica Andrade as she has title ambitions of her own come May 10th in Montreal.

She also details her experience with her idol and legend Georges St Pierre as well as training at Ireland’s SBG gym with Conor McGregor.

Speaking with CanadaCasino.ca, Jasudavicius said: 

• I’ve always wanted to be the female Georges St Pierre 
• I would like to fight Valentina Shevchenko for the title in Toronto
• Having GSP at my fight will give me the spark I need to beat Andrade
• Conor McGregor gave me confidence when he told me I have the ability to knock someone out
• A victory over Andrade will put me into title contention
• Having GSP at my fight will give me the spark I need to beat Andrade

Jasmine Jasudavicius exclusive: I want to be female Georges St Pierre, I want to fight Valentina Shevchenko for title before I retire and Conor McGregor gave me confidence when I trained at his gym

I’ve always wanted to be the female Georges St Pierre 

That’s gonna be unbelievable [walking in the footsteps of GSP]. Since I started I always said I want to be the female GSP, and to be able to go out there like representing Canada in Montreal, following in his footsteps, I feel like the stars are twinkling when I think about it.

I would like to fight Valentina Shevchenko for the title in Toronto

I feel like Shevchenko is not saying ‘let me retire’ or anything but I don’t think she’s gonna be retiring within the next while.

I think that was just to get everyone on the internet buzzing about the fight, maybe.

I’m down to fight any fight that will bring me closer to that title so you know the opportunity to fight her the belt, it would be a dream.

[A dream location to face Shevchenko would be] Toronto. I always perform best in Canada, being able to do it with my friends and family watching. I mean ticket prices are crazy so I don’t know how many of my friends and family can watch in Canada. But ideally that’s where it would be, to be able to fight in my backyard would be amazing.

Having GSP at my fight will give me the spark I need to beat Andrade

I feel like it’s just the same. How I feel when I walk out, I’ve got Canada on my back. I feel like it will be the same having GSP there. I’ll feel like his strengths and everything are kind of downloaded into me for some reason, if he’s there, and I think it will just give me more motivation and more spark. I’ll want to show so much more of myself because he’s there.

Conor McGregor gave me confidence when he told me I have the ability to knock someone out

That gym is unbelievable. Ireland is so cool. Anyone who’s never been to Ireland, I highly recommend checking it out. You feel like you go back into a fairy tale. It’s such a cool place, and being at SBG and training there I can’t say enough good things. The coaching staff are unbelievable. All the training partners there are awesome. Everyone is super nice, like very kind people, and awesome. 

The training is great. The only thing that sucks is the rain, that’s the only thing that sucks about Ireland, but it was so cool while I was there. It was when Conor was getting ready to fight, so he was in the gym, and I got to actually be on the mats at the same time as him, and after practice, everyone’s all singing together. I couldn’t believe it. It is kind of very bizarre.

He’s such a really good person. He takes care of the people around him. He is awesome, and he said I’d be able to knock someone out, so that gave me a huge confidence.

I was 26 when I started MMA, and now I’m fighting Jessica Andrade on a big stage

So I actually started late. You know normally kids start when they’re younger but I was 26 when I found martial arts.

I went on a trip with my now coach and fiance who was cornering a UFC fighter at the time. His name was Jason Saggo, from Prince Edward Island, so I figured that would be a fun trip, I’d enjoy the lobster, and have a nice time.

When I was there, I was watching them training and learning more about what it’s like being a UFC fighter and then, once I watched them spar, I was like ‘oh this is so cool like, I definitely want to try this out.’ 

So then I started training more and I decided I’m gonna try taking a fight, and then once in doing that very first fight and experiencing that I was hooked. From there, you know, it was just like small goals on the way, and now we’re here.

i never had natural talent, I just worked hard 

I don’t know if it was natural talent. I think I just really enjoyed it so I was always working really hard at it. I didn’t really think ‘oh I’m really good at this. I’m going to make the UFC one day!’ I never really had those thoughts. 

It was more like, I’m really enjoying this right now. I’m gonna take another fight, and then it just kept on going from there. I’ll take another one. I’ll take another. I’ll take another one until the Contender Series contacted me and asked if I wanted an opportunity to shoot my shot for the UFC. I did. I was able to do that. And then Dana gave me a contract, and it just kind of continued on since then.

Once I made it into the UFC my dreams got bigger. I want to reach my potential. I want to become the best in the world. I’ve trained with girls from all over the world, and I know where my skills are at, so I just desire the opportunity to be able to have a crack at it, to continue on and see where I’m at.

Jessica Andrade won’t be an easy opponent

I think so. You know she’s a veteran in the sport, and she won’t roll over easily. I know that I have got a good fight on my hands.

I leave that up to my coaches. They’re the ones that watch all the tape and go ‘let’s work on this, let’s work on this.’ I’m just going into practice to try to be the best that I can be, and I know that they’re preparing me without me really knowing.

I have to be smart and watch out for her big shots. She’s a power puncher. So I’m very aware that I can’t be taking any clean shots. No free shots. So I know the focus will obviously be on making sure my defense is sound and hitting my clean shots when they’re available.

Jessica Andrade will be surprised by my skill set – I don’t want this fight to go the distance

I think that she’ll be surprised. I feel like when people match up against me they kind of think that maybe I’m not the most skilled or they don’t feel as great as I do. I feel like once we get in there and the cage door is locked then she’s gonna see what I have to offer.

I’m hoping it doesn’t go the distance. Like I’m gonna be ready for a three round war but I’m hoping that I finish her before that. I’m always searching for the finish so hopefully I get it this time.

A victory over Andrade will put me into title contention

Title contention. Hopefully it puts me one fight before a title shot. I believe that but this fight, she’s been a champion in this weight class, she’s obviously proved herself, so a win over her, especially a finish, puts me in shot of title contention.

Valentina Shevchenko will beat Manon Fiorot

I’m leaning a little bit towards Shevchenko but I don’t know. Fiora is very talented and she could dethrone her but we’ll see.

I think it’s gonna be the wrestling. I think it will be like who can choose where the fight is gonna be. That’s why I think Shevchenko is probably gonna win because I think she can mix like martial arts as a whole better than Fiora.

I’m a better mixed martial artist than Jessica Andrade that’s how I beat her

I think it’s kind of the same thing. I believe that I can mix martial arts as a whole better than she can. Obviously she’s talented, I’m not saying anything against her, but I think that I’m better at mixing all the disciplines together.

Shevchenko beats Weili Zhang 

I’m gonna go with Shevchenko just because she is bigger. They’re both so skilled and so talented. It would be an insane fight but just because I’ve got to give an edge, I’ll go Shevchenko with it.

Me and GSP worked out in the gym together and it was such a meaningful moment for me

No, that wasn’t the first time. When I first started martial arts, I don’t even think I’d taken a fight at the time, I went to Montreal and GSP was in his gym where Tristar and I were training. So our practice ended and then he was doing a private session after with his crew and his guys.

But for warm up he was doing this marker sparring to turn on your nervous system where you try to touch the person and give them a little mark from a marker, and he was doing it with everyone in the gym, and I got to do it with him. That was the first time we met. He definitely wouldn’t remember because he did it with everyone there but of course it was such a meaningful moment for me. It was really nice to meet him again in Saudi Arabia. I look forward to the next time when we could chat more and I can ask him questions. He’s just such an awesome person.

I hope I get to spend some time with GSP before my fight 

I really hope so. I hope that when I get to see him I’ll get some time to actually talk to him. Not just like a quick ‘oh, hi!’ You know, I hope that I get to spend some real time with him. I’m gonna write down some questions to ask him, and I can’t wait.

Alex Pereira may struggle fighting on Ice no matter how much he wants it

If he’s never skated, I feel like he would find it a lot more challenging than he’d expect. 

I’ve never really played hockey but I’ve obviously screwed around with my friends playing but I always go for runs and when I’m running I have to run on the ice a lot because I’m in Canada. 

A lot of stuff is iced over, and it’s way more slippery, and it’s harder to get your footwork going than people anticipate. I don’t know how well he would do. You can’t dig in. You can’t really get a base. It’d be quite hard to knock someone out.