5 of the most brutal knockouts in the history of the UFC women's divisions

#3 Rose Namajunas vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Rose Namajunas shocked everyone with her knockout of Joanna Jedrzejczyk

By late 2017, Joanna Jedrzejczyk had ruled over the UFC’s Strawweight division with an iron fist for what felt like a much longer period than two and a half years. The Polish star had beaten Carla Esparza for the title in March 2015 and had defended it successfully 5 times, using her aggressive striking style to destroy her opponents.

She’d never been able to unleash a clean one-shot knockout though, and incredibly, when one did happen during one of her fights, it was Jedrzejczyk who was on the wrong end. At UFC 217, her latest challenger Rose Namajunas wasn’t really being given a chance, despite coming off a big win over Michelle Waterson a few months beforehand.

Despite her underdog status, Namajunas came out looking confident, and even whilst exchanging some early feeler strikes, it looked like she had Jedrzejczyk’s timing worked out. An early right hook sent the champion down, but she’d been dropped before and had always recovered. Joanna got to her feet, but this time things seemed to be different.

Moments later, ‘Thug Rose’ put her down for good – landing a huge left hook that sent Jedrzejczyk crashing to the ground, and some follow-up shots sealed the deal for good. It was one of the biggest upsets of 2017 and definitely one of the most memorable knockouts in the history of the UFC women’s divisions – and it made Namajunas into a superstar in one fell swoop.