TAMPA, Fla. — Former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is confident she’ll hit weight for her Saturday UFC on ESPN+ 19 main event against Michelle Waterson at Friday morning’s weigh-ins.
How confident? She told MMA Junkie on Wednesday that it’s as automatic as waking up in the morning.
“Are you confident that you’re going to wake up tomorrow?” Jedrzejczyk said at the UFC Tampa open workouts. “Thank you so much.”
If there was a tone of annoyance in the former champion’s voice, it’s because the topic of how her weight cut is going swallowed all other news related to the card after reports surfaced Wednesday which claimed she wasn’t going to be able to hit 116 pounds by Friday.
Waterson’s apparently rebuffed attempts to change the terms of the fight, and Waterson (17-6 MMA, 5-2 UFC) herself believes she may have caught Jedrzejczyk, a former flyweight, trying to get a subtle edge on Waterson, a former atomweight.
But Jedrzejczyk (15-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) says there’s nothing to reports that she’s not going to make weight, and reminded everyone she has plenty of time to prove herself right.
“Did I miss something? Did I miss today? Did I miss tomorrow? No, Friday (is the weigh-in),” she said. “So please, give me the time and space to make weight, too easy to make weight and fight Michelle Waterson on Saturday.”
The South Floria resident by way of Poland, who challenged Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight belt last time out in a unanimous-decision loss at UFC 231, said that fighters’ bodies can react differently every time they cut weight.
“I was super light a month ago, then my weight went a little bit up and down again,” Jedrzejczyk said. “But then the fight before Valentina Shevchenko, I was super light, Every weight cut, your body show up different. Our bodies are clever beasts every like I said, every weight cut every time is totally different, different thing.”
And if you’ve never been through the process, well, Jedrzejczyk, who has never missed weight once in her 18-fight career, says to keep your yap shut and just wait and see her make weight.
“There are always some troubles with the weight cut even come, there’s always some risk, we’re definitely, the fighter, your body just shut down, make the weight,” the former champion said. “I know people are smart and think it’s that easy to, ‘hey, go run for 10 hours or don’t eat,’ but it’s not like this, you know? So people who are not important who don’t know a lot about it should just stay quiet and just weight until the end, the results.”
UFC on ESPN+ 19 takes place Saturday at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. The card streams on ESPN+.
You can see Jedrzejczyk’s open workout in the video linked above, and her full media scrum in the video linked below.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk defiant on weight-cut rumors: 'Give me the time and space'