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Joanna Jedrzejczyk returns to UFC 275 after a two year break to find the women's strawweight division in a fortuitous state. Her rival Rose Namajunas just lost her title to Carla Esparza, the fighter Jedrzejczyk beat to win the belt in 2015.
Jedrzejczyk gave her thoughts on the strange and uneventful Namajunas vs. Esparza fight during The DC Check-In With Daniel Cormier. She said:
"If you're the champ, when you're losing a championship fight and you're the champ, you're paying the ultimate price of losing the belt. So if you feel like it's tight or your not doing as much ... like come on, you have to somehow find the energy and do much more risk sometimes, you know? No risk, no gain."
Jedrzejczyk still feels like Namajunas should have won the judges' decision. That doesn't mean she was impressed with the performance, though. She said:
"I thought she won. ... I would feel ashamed. I'd rather go there than get knocked out and entertain people than f***ing lame like this."
The change in champions definitely plays in Joanna Jedrzejczyk's favor. Jedrzejczyk is 0-2 against Rose Namajunas, but 1-0 against Carla Esparza. A win over Zhang Weili at UFC 275 almost guarantees her a title shot against Esparza. She said:
"After this fight, I was back to the gym on Monday and still doing three trainings a day. This fight gave me extra motivation, extra power, extra energy. Because this fight showed me that everything and anything is possible. And history likes to make a circle. History always makes a circle. It's been seven years since I won the belt over Carla Esparza, and it's going to happen this year. ... It's perfect. I feel like the universe has my back."
Watch the full interview with Joanna Jedrzejczyk below:
Joanna Jedrzejczyk isn't impressed with strawweight champion Carla Esparza's evolution
With her win over Rose Namajunas at UFC 274, Carla Esparza regained the women's strawweight title she lost to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in 2015. She may soon have a chance to avenge that loss if Jedrzejczyk beats Zhang Weili in Singapore.
While speaking to Daniel Cormier, Jedrzejczyk didn't give her much of a chance. She said:
"Honestly, I haven't seen her fighting since our fight. And I heard 'Oh Carla Esparza she has this win streak!' So I thought okay, maybe she's really improving, you know? Then I saw this fight. Dude, she looked the same as when we fought seven years ago in Dallas. This fight shows where the strawweight division is. So when people complain about me or Weili Zhang getting the title shot? These fighters, they can't ask for it."
Jedrzejczyk is clearly looking ahead and feeling motivated about her chances of earning back the title and her nickname 'Joanna Champion.' First she'll have to beat Zhang Weili, who defeated Jedrzejczyk via split decision in their first Fight of the Year meeting in March 2020.
Watch the full Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Zhang Weili fight from UFC 248 below:
