Newly-crowned Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s strawweight champion, Rose Namajunas, opened the door for a slew of 115-pound contenders by stopping Joanna Jedrzejczyk at last weekend’s UFC 217 pay-per-view (PPV) event in New York City.
Watch the replay here.
Chief among them is Jessica Andrade (17-6), who retained her spot atop the strawweight rankings by thrashing Claudia Gadelha back in September. That leaves “Bate Estaca” as the likely opponent for “Thug Rose” in first-quarter 2018.
“I don’t believe the UFC will give Joanna a rematch because it makes no sense,” Andrade told MMA Fighting. “She lost by knockout in the first round. (Jose) Aldo and Ronda (Rousey) lost like that and there was no rematch. (Namajunas) is a tough opponent, that’s why she beat the champion, but I think that finding the timing and distance, I can get in and knock her out.”
Jedrzejczyk defeated Andrade by decision at UFC 211 last May.
Nothing is official at this time, as the promotion may consider giving Jedrzejczyk a chance to reclaim her crown (no bullshit), based on the ex-champ’s dominance over the division dating back to March 2015.
Time will tell.