Who is Virna Jandiroba? The fighter who openly criticized former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

Virna Jandiroba is a Brazilian mixed-martial artist who competes in the women's strawweight division. She is currently the No. 5-ranked in the UFC strawweight rankings. Jandiroba was the Invicta strawweight champion before joining the premier MMA organization in the world.

'Carcará' has been competing in the UFC since 2019 and made her promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 150, where she faced former divisional champion Carla Esparza. Jandiroba came up short in her UFC debut, losing a unanimous decision to the former champion. She has since racked up a promotional record of 5-3 and an overall MMA record of 19-3.

Jandiroba is one of the few Brazilian combat sports personalities who has openly criticized Brazil's former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro, an ex-military man, became the Latin American country's president in 2019 and held office until 2022.

As president, Bolsonaro garnered criticism for going after native and indigenous people and lands, as well as the LGBTQ community. Many members of the fight community have shown support for the former far-right president, including fighters like Deiveson Figueiredo, Jose Aldo, Ronaldo Souza, Mauricio Rua, Cris Cyborg, and Fabricio Werdum.

Other famous personalities in the combat sports community who have publicly supported Jair Bolsonaro are jiu-jitsu experts Renzo Gracie, Andre Galvao, and Robson Gracie - who is reported to have given Bolsonaro his honorary black belt in the martial art.

Jandiroba is in the minority when it comes to fighters who have openly criticized Jair Bolsonaro. After her TKO win over Kanako Murata at UFC Vegas 29, Virna Jandiroba took the opportunity to bash the former president as she walked off camera. Here is what she said, translated from Portuguese:

"Praise SUS. Go away, Naro [short for Bolsonaro]”

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Virna Jandiroba to clash with Loopy Godinez at UFC Atlantic City

Virna Jandiroba has emerged as a dark horse in the UFC strawweight division and slowly climbed into the top echelons of the weight class. At the time of this writing, the Brazilian is the No. 5-ranked UFC strawweight in the world.

In her last outing, Jandiroba defeated the highly touted Marina Rodriguez via unanimous decision to extend her winning streak to two. Jandiroba will take on Mexican-Canadian fighter Loopy Godinez on the UFC Atlantic City prelims.

The event is scheduled to take place on March 30 at the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey. A high-stakes women's flyweight contest between Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot will headline the card.