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Joanna Jedrzejczyk has spoken for the first time since her retirement, and given her views on a variety of topics. Talking to Damon Martin of MMA Fighting, the Polish mixed martial arts legend discussed the fallout from her fight earlier this month.
Jedrzejczyk also discussed her many business endeavors outside of fighting, her future racing career, defining moments in her MMA journey, and much more.
Watch the interview video below:
When talking about the moment she took off her gloves inside the cage a few weeks back, Jedrzejczyk said:
"I always wanted to retire on my rules. I don't want to be this gatekeeper you say, yeah. I don't want to be this legend who is going to fight forever and forever and get beat up. That's the thing. I accept where I am at you know. What my age is you know.
"The craziest thing about is that it was the best camp in my life. I was in the best shape ever. Stronger physically, mentally than before. That's the craziest thing because I'm still having so much love for this sport. And I don't want to leave."
At one point in the interview, whose video is given above, the UFC strawweight stalwart was asked whether she would stick to her retirement decision. To this, Joanna Jedrzejczyk said:
"For now, it is...It's hard but sometimes I wake up and in the morning I'm like no, I would love to be back. Why am I doing this? That's the hard part."
Joanna Jedrzejczyk's prolific UFC resume
Jedrzejczyk's last fight saw her lose via knockout to Zhang Weili. This took place at UFC 275 earlier in the month and marked the American Top Team product's second consecutive loss to Weili.
The long-time UFC strawweight champion has a record number of consecutive title defenses for her weight class, at five wins straight.
She finished the reigning champion Carla Esparza's tenure to begin her highly regarded title run. A second-round TKO victory allowed her to emphatically capture the gold at UFC 185.
This reign lasted from March 2015 until November 2017, when she dropped the belt to Rose Namajunas at UFC 217.
If she never competes again, many see Joanna Jedrzejczyk as someone with a list of accomplishments that will get her a UFC Hall of Fame spot someday.
Do you think Joanna Jedrzejczyk will stay retired? Give us your thoughts in the comments!
