Sign up for
ESPN+ and order UFC 275: Teixeira vs. Prochazka
Joanna
Jedrzejczyk’s absence has certainly been felt.
The former
Ultimate Fighting Championship women’s strawweight titleholder
will climb into the cage for the first time in more than two years
when she faces
Weili Zhang
in a
UFC 275 rematch on Saturday at Singapore Indoor Stadium in
Kallang, Singapore. Jedrzejcyk has not fought since she dropped a
five-round split decision to the
Fight Ready representative in March 2020. She has compiled a
10-4 record across her 14 appearances inside the Octagon, including
victories over
Michelle
Waterson,
Tecia
Torres,
Karolina
Kowalkiewicz and
Jessica
Penne.
As Jedrzejczyk makes final preparations ahead of her second
encounter with “Magnum” at 115 pounds, a look at some of the
rivalries that have helped shape her remarkable career to this
point:
Jedrzejczyk took out “Cookie Monster” with punches and claimed the
undisputed women’s strawweight championship in the second round of
their UFC 185 co-main event on March 14, 2015 at the American
Airlines Center in Dallas. Esparza succumbed to an accumulation of
blows 4:17 into Round 2, her five-fight winning streak halted in
decisive fashion. Jedrzejczyk denied all but one of the
Team Oyama product’s takedown attempts, trapping her on the
feet. Esparza grew increasingly desperate, as hopelessness and
fatigue set in. By the time the second round arrived, she was
little more than a sitting duck. Jedrzejczyk fired away with grisly
right hands and stinging jabs, slowly wearing down the Californian.
With less than a minute remaining in the frame, she backed up
Esparza with a right hand and swarmed with a brutal volley for the
finish.
The unbeaten Jedrzejczyk improved to 12-0, turned away one of her
chief rivals for a second time and retained the Ultimate Fighting
Championship women’s strawweight title when she was awarded a
unanimous verdict over the
Nova Uniao standout in “The Ultimate Fighter 23” Finale
headliner on July 8, 2016 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las
Vegas. Scores were 48-46, 48-45 and 48-46. Gadelha, who had lost
their initial meeting by split decision in a year and a half
earlier, forced the champion to deal with genuine adversity for
two-plus rounds. She dropped Jedrzejczyk with a jab early in the
first period, pursued a merciless clinch and completed four
takedowns. However, the Brazilian pushed a pace she could not keep
across 25 minutes. Jedrzejczyk kept frustration at bay and started
to seize control in the middle stanza before hitting the gas in the
third and fourth rounds. She landed more than three times as many
significant strikes as the challenger—146 to 40—over the final
three frames.
Jedrzejczyk pitched another mesmerizing shutout and retained the
women’s strawweight championship with a clear-cut unanimous
decision over “Bate Estaca” in the UFC 211 co-main event on May 13,
2017 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Scores were 50-45,
50-44 and 50-45. Andrade had the will but not the means with which
to dethrone the 115-pound queen. Jedrzejczyk developed a hematoma
on her forehead in the first round but made certain virtually
everything else went her way. She utilized a punishing jab,
attacked the challenger’s base with kicks to the lower leg and
mixed in blinding punching combinations to the body and head,
drawing her further down the rabbit hole with each passing minute.
Even when Andrade closed the distance and clinched with the
American Top Team superstar, she was met with knees to the body and
short standing elbows. The outcome was never in doubt.
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 20 finalist cemented her place atop
the 115-pound weight class and retained the undisputed women’s
strawweight crown with a unanimous decision over Jedrzejczyk in the
UFC 223 co-headliner on April 7, 2018 at the Barclays Center in
Brooklyn, New York. All three cageside judges struck 49-46
scorecards for Namajunas, who improved to 2-0—she famously knocked
out the Polish muay Thai machine in their first meeting five months
prior—in their head-to-head series. Jedrzejczyk sputtered out of
the gate and absorbed a steady barrage of clean left hooks from the
champion. However, she turned the tide in the third and fourth
rounds, where she zeroed in on Namajunas’ lead leg with repeated
kicks. The appendage became swollen and discolored, reducing some
the 303 Training Center star’s lateral movement. Namajunas showed
her quality and resolve in Round 5. With Jedrzejczyk suffering from
a badly swollen right eye, “Thug Rose” let her hands go and proved
superior in the standup exchanges. She tied a bow on another
victory with a brilliant tactical maneuver, surprising Jedrzejczyk
with a takedown in the closing seconds.
What was long viewed as an inevitability became a reality in the
UFC 231 co-main event, where “Bullet” took a five-round unanimous
decision from Jedrzejczyk and seized the vacant women’s flyweight
title on Dec. 8, 2018 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. All three
scorecards read 49-46. The masterful Shevchenko was a step ahead of
her counterpart in all phases. She outlanded Jedrzejczyk by narrow
margins in the second, third and fourth rounds, completed five
takedowns and piled up more than eight minutes of control time. It
was yet another comprehensive performance from Shevchenko, long
viewed as the top woman in the sport at 125 pounds. She showed a
little bit of everything against Jedrzejczyk, as she recorded one
of her most impressive victories to date at the expense of the
American Top Team standout.