Joanna Jedrzejczyk Won’t Stop Citing Weight Cut For UFC 217 Defeat
Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk has repeatedly said that a poor weight cut impacted her shocking knockout loss to Rose Namajunas at UFC 217 last November and ahead of their UFC 223 rematch, which is set for April 7, 2018, she has continued to stand by these claims:
“I would not have become UFC champion and defended my title five times if I was not respectful for my opponent,” Jedrzejczyk said on today’s UFC 223 conference call. “I took her very, very serious. She was my big challenge last time, but my weight cut impacted my body. I don’t care if people are going to say if it was my excuse. Only me and my team know what happened that night and how I felt in the octagon.”
Prior to UFC 217, Jedrzejczyk had won 14-straight fights, while defending her 115-pound title five-straight times. Due to her previous success, the Polish striker felt as if an immediate rematch was necessary and she’s looking to prove once and for all that she’s the top strawweight in the world:
“After the fight, (UFC President) Dana (White) said that he will get me back in a rematch,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I love Dana. He’s my boss, and I love to fight for the UFC. I don’t care what people say, he keeps his word, and he kept his word. So this is what I like about him, with the UFC. They heard how bad my weight cut was and how it affected my performance that night.
“I’m the best strawweight in the world and I will prove that on April 7. I could not stand someone fighting for the belt before me because this is my belt and I will prove that to all of you guys.”
Jedrzejczyk will certainly get the chance to do just that in just over a week’s time.
UFC 223 will take place at the Barclays Center and is set to be headlined by an anticipated lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov.
