When asked which fighter hit her the hardest, Joanna Jedrzejczyk had a surprising answer.
Jedrzejczyk (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) has fought some of the best female fighters in the sport, reigning over the UFC’s strawweight division for years. She even attempted to move up in weight to face Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight title in 2018, but she fell short.
It’s been almost two years since Jedrzejczyk last competed, a razor-thin decision loss to then-champion Zhang Weili in March 2020. It was an all-out war where Weili’s powerful punches caused a hematoma on Jedrzejczyk’s head, but when she was asked who packed the most power – Zhang or current UFC strawweight champ Rose Namajunas – “Joanna Champion” offered up an additional answer.
“I think Rose,” Jedrzejczyk said on the “Punchin’ In” podcast when asked who hits harder between Namajunas and Zhang. “The first one (fight with Namajunas), I don’t remember. I didn’t feel the power. I just went to sleep, but there were some things that happened before the fight. In the second fight, I felt she was hitting pretty hard, but you know who hit the hardest? Valerie Letourneau. She was the hardest puncher I have ever fought … so Valerie and then Rose.
She continued, “For so many years they, were only talking about (Namajunas’) grappling, how good she is on the ground, but I think her striking is top level. Very precise, good timing and very, very strong.”
Letourneau comes as a surprising answer since Jedrzejczyk was able to put on a striking masterclass on the Canadian fighter when the pair fought in the co-main event of UFC 193.
Jedrzejczyk is back in Florida training at American Top Team, and with one fight remaining on her UFC contract, the former strawweight queen is just waiting for the right opportunity to arise.
“I can’t complain; all the girls (ranked) from 1-10 are booked,” Jedrzejczyk said. “So I can’t complain because it was my decision to not fight for such a long time, so I’m just training and waiting, and I think we’re just going to get the big fights. That’s it.”
Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s surprising answer on the hardest puncher she’s ever faced
