Jandiroba eyes Dern trilogy in 2027 with win over Suarez at UFC Vegas 124

Virna Jandiroba believes a win over Tatiana Suarez in the UFC Vegas 124 co-main event on Saturday could put her in line for a third fight against Mackenzie Dern and a renewed push for the UFC strawweight title she has twice fallen short of claiming.

Both Jandiroba and Suarez enter the bout having lost title bids — Jandiroba dropping two decisions to Dern, Suarez losing to Zhang Weili — before rebounding with dominant victories. Jandiroba, now 9-4 in the UFC, has beaten most of the other ranked 115-pounders and sees the co-main event as a de facto title eliminator.

“We’re very close in the rankings, and I think whoever gets through this fight deserves another title shot,” Jandiroba told MMA Fighting. “Tatiana has never fought Mackenzie, I’ve already fought her, but it’s a fair matchup, especially my fight with Mackenzie, which was very close. I’m not the one who makes those decisions, but I think this could be a title eliminator.”

The fight has been a long time coming. An ACL injury forced Jandiroba out of their originally scheduled 2023 clash, and a second attempt fell through when Suarez withdrew and was granted a title shot against Zhang instead. With both women now healthy and ranked closely together, Jandiroba is treating Saturday as a defining moment in the final chapter of her career.

“I don’t have 10 fights left in my career anymore, I have a few more, so I want to fight and express myself, enjoy these moments,” she said. “The belt is the moon, you know? But if I don’t reach it, I’ll land among the stars.”

Jandiroba acknowledged the division’s uncertainty, noting that Zhang Weili has yet to signal a return, which she takes as a sign the champion may be stepping away. She also cautioned against reading too much into shared opponents — both she and Suarez have beaten Amanda Lemos and Loopy Godinez — pointing out that her win over Godinez came while she was still recovering from surgery and fighting conservatively.

“MMA is not an exact science, but when you have a fight to use as a reference, it’s really good to look at,” Jandiroba said. “You can compare them, but you can’t compare Virna. I wasn’t the same Virna back then.”

Three of Jandiroba’s four UFC losses have come against former or future champions, a record that underlines her standing in the division even without the title. A win over Suarez on Saturday would make the case for a Dern trilogy in 2027 difficult to ignore.