Joanna Jedrzejczyk Could Meet Valerie Letourneau Next
Although it was originally thought that UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk would defend her title against Claudia Gadelha in the main event of January 2, 2016’s UFC 195 from Las Vegas, it appears that the UFC is reportedly looking into some different plans.
News came last night that the upcoming Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm women’s bantamweight championship had been moved to November 14’s UFC 193 from Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia, and Yahoo’s Kevin Iole revealed that the promotion was apparently targeting Jedrzejczyk’s next title defense for the co-main event.
However, it wasn’t going to be against Gadelha.
After Gadelha was sidelined following surgery on her finger for a torn ligament sustained in her dominant UFC 190 win over Jessica Aguilar, rising strawweight Valerie Letourneau was discussed as Jedrzejczyk’s next opponent, but she was reportedly unable to be ready by November 14 after recently defeating Maryna Moroz at August 23’s UFC Fight Night 74.
Nothing is official as of yet, as UFC president Dana White clarified to Iole that they still had a lot of figuring out to do:
“I just have to rethink all of this,” White said. “There are a lot of ways we can go, but we’ll make this a kick-ass event and we’ll get back at it and figure out [UFC 195] and do the same thing with that.”
That could be an extremely unfortunate set of circumstances for Gadelha, who took Jedrzejczyk to the limit in a close and controversial split decision at UFC on FOX 13.
The Nova Uniao product is undoubtedly the most deserving contender for Jedrzejczyk, but another injury could force Letourneau or another name to fill in. LowKickMMA.com will have breaking updates on this developing situation and all of your other MMA news, so keep your eyes peeled to find out just who “Joanna Champion’s” next challenger truly is.
