Newly retired Joanna J?drzejczyk has revealed she has aspirations of becoming an MMA manager.
J?drzejczyk announced her MMA retirement following her loss to Zhang Weili at UFC 275 on Saturday. The 34-year-old showed glimpses of her former self in the fight but struggled to deal with Zhang’s strength and power. She was ultimately knocked out cold by a stunning spinning backfist from Weili in round two.
The loss was Joanna’s fifth in her last seven fights, extending a poor stretch of form that commenced after losing her strawweight title to Rose Namajunas in 2017. The Pole lost to Namajunas yet again the following year, before racking up losses to Valentina Shevchenko and back-to-back defeats to Zhang.
J?drzejczyk Shares Her Post-Retirement Plans
For many, J?drzejczyk will go down as one of the greatest women’s strawweight fighters of all time. Starting her pro MMA career in 2012, Joanna entered the UFC just over two years later, capturing the strawweight title in her third fight with the promotion. She went on to defend her title five times, defeating the likes of Claudia Gadelha, Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Jéssica Andrade in the process.
J?drzejczyk has certainly experienced all the highs and lows of an MMA career. And speaking at the UFC 275 post-fight press conference, Joanna said she now plans to leverage this experience to help fighters grow their careers.
“In the future, I want to be the best manager I can be, learning from the best, Jennifer Goldstein, my manager, CAA Combat Sports; Dan Lambert, the owner of ATT. So I want to be around. Rose, let’s get some training,” said J?drzejczyk, before laughing.
So, we’re likely to see Joanna remain in the MMA world for some time to come. And the former champ says she has no problem stepping away from the spotlight to see a new generation of fighters take her place.
“And yeah, I want to be around the sport, of course,” said J?drzejczyk. “This is who I am. This is what made me. I was born to be the UFC champion, and I was. I took my chance, I got as much, and it’s time for the second generation.”
What do you think of Joanna J?drzejczyk’s plan to become an MMA manager?
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