Jędrzejczyk: UFC’s SW Division Shows Anything’s Possible In MMA

Former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk thinks the recent fights in the division show that a path back to the title is still possible for her.

Jędrzejczyk is set to make her Octagon return in a rematch against Zhang Weili at UFC 275. This marks her first fight in the UFC since her first fight with Weili at UFC 248 in early 2020.

While Jędrzejczyk has had a long layoff from competition, she’s been keeping a close eye on how things have played out in the strawweight division. She’s also recently teased the various improvements she’s made during her two-year hiatus.

During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Jędrzejczyk pointed to the recent Rose Namajunas/Carla Esparza UFC 274 rematch as an example of how wild the 115lb division is.

“This fight, the fight between Rose and Carla, showed how unpredictable this sport and crazy this sport is,” Jędrzejczyk said. “I beat Carla, then Carla beat Rose, I beat Carla and then Andrade beats Rose… how crazy it is? So anything and everything is possible, and yeah it’s happening. I’m so pumped, I’m so motivated… I’ve been training so hard… I went home to Poland only for eight days, I’ve been working so hard and preparing for this moment.

“This is what drives me into [fighting], but I’m supposed to cut some of the training sessions because I’ve been training 13 times a week every day since I got here,” Jedrzejczyk continued. “But after [the Rose/Carla fight], I don’t wanna stop. I can’t stop, I won’t stop, I want to do more. Because everything is [in my head, and in my heart] and how hard we believe in our dreams and in ourselves.”

Another development in the division is the return of Andrade, who recently defeated rising contender Amanda Lemos following a stint at flyweight. Andrade, along with Jędrzejczyk and Weili, remains a massive part of the strawweight title picture.

Esparza defeated Namajunas in the UFC 274 co-headliner to regain the strawweight throne. She lost her title to Jędrzejczyk at UFC 185 after earning the then-vacant title against Namajunas on The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale.

Jędrzejczyk still has ambitions of regaining the strawweight title and will look to remind the rest of the division of her greatness in her return at UFC 275.

What is your reaction to Joanna Jędrzejczyk’s comments? Do you think she can become the UFC strawweight champion once again?

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