Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
The former strawweight champ talked about the damage she took to her face in her last fight and how MMA ‘changes your body.’
So much has happened in 2020 already that it’s hard to remember sometimes that we’re just three months into the year. World events aside, we’ve already witnessed an epic Fight of the Year candidate in UFC 248’s Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk. It’s being touted as one of the best WMMA bouts ever, and I have my doubts it will be surpassed until Zhang and JJ inevitably meet again.
But let’s not rush that rematch, even when taking into consideration how close things were on the score cards. This was the kind of fight that took a clear toll on the bodies of the women involved, a fact that sometimes gets overlooked in this sport. Jedrzejczyk in particular ended up looking pretty horrorshow after the match with a massive hematoma on her forehead that made her look like an alien.
That massive forehead lump then turned into the largest bruise I’ve ever seen, turning Joanna’s whole face black for a week. She’s been kind enough to share the healing process on social media, and we’re happy to report everything is returning to its proper place … with a little help.
“Yesterday I had to do a ‘body check’ with Kamil Iwanczyk to make sure that the bruises, which can sometimes be dangerous, are getting properly absorbed,” Jedrzejczyk wrote on Instagram. “Eventually, we decided to use some tape to help me get back in shape faster. How’s your day?”
In the latest episode of MMA Fighting’s Eurobash podcast, she gave a bit more insight into what it’s like having your face mangled like that and not knowing for sure if it’s gonna leave permanent marks.
”I hate myself when I’m like this, but that’s the price we have to pay,” Jedrzejczyk said. “There’s always a worse side to your job or your profession. I hate it, man, I hate it and I want to take care of my health. Being an athlete, being in this sport, it changes your body. It changes your head, your mind, how you look and how you walk. It cost me a lot of sacrifices, changes in my body and I’m still a woman, I want to be attractive. And I want to be a mother in the future so of course I always want to take care of my health. In the UFC you have everything, good healthcare and they’re always taking good care of us.”
“There are still a few bruises, but I was laughing about the memes after my fight. Even though I cut myself off from social media I was still laughing, oh that’s funny. But I’m telling you guys from the next day, the swelling in my forehead went down and I couldn’t see out my left eye for two days. I had a vision of only five percent in my left eye – it was pretty rough, you know? But it is what it is, the swelling went down and everything is fine.”
“I had an X-ray, I had an ultrasound, I had everything,” she added. “I went to the plastic surgeon in Poland and I small medical procedure on my ear. But everything is good with my head and I’m good, man! I’m good. Healthy. Still crazy, but healthy!”