So, what exactly was that in Jasmine Jasudavicius’ mouth?
Jasudavicius scored a unanimous decision win over Karine Silva this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 273 from Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg. And although it was a sterling performance from the 37-year-old Canadian, the talk coming out of the fight largely has focused on what viewers observed in between rounds.
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In corner footage that has circulated on social media, Jasudavicius (15-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC) can be seen chewing and then shifting a white object between her bottom lip and gums before putting her mouthpiece back in. The footage has led fans to speculate that Jasudavicius had a nicotine pouch in her mouth during the fight, which would be a violation of the Unified Rules of MMA and risk her win being overturned.
On Tuesday, Jasudavicius addressed the mini-controversy during an appearance on “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
“It’s so funny that everyone is saying I had a nicotine pouch in,” Jasudavicius said. “No, I train with gum, and I was warming up with gum. Sometimes I like, I’ve fought with gum in my mouth in the past, but I forgot to spit it out before the walkout, and it was just still in my mouth. Better than a toothpick. … I didn’t even think about it, it went in with my mouthguard, and I still chew it normal, and then I just took it in between my lip and then during the rounds I have a couple of chews.”
Gum also is prohibited from being in a fighter’s mouth, as is any foreign object, so it remains to be seen if anything will come of Jasudavicius’ admission.
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Jasudavicius’ victory was a nice rebound from her women’s flyweight title-eliminator loss to Manon Fiorot last October. Prior to that, Jasudavicius was on a five-fight winning streak.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Winnipeg fighter caught chewing something. What was it?
