Highlights! Joanna Bloodies ‘Karate Hottie’ In Dominant Win

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk returned to dominant form last night (Sat., Oct. 12, 2019) at UFC Fight Night 161 live on ESPN+ from inside Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, when she picked apart Michelle Waterson via unanimous decision in the main event.

Jedrzejczyk looked good in the early going as she started to establish offense from range. Waterson would close the gap and force the clinch, but Joanna responded with knees inside and elbows off the break. Waterson responded in the second with better pressure from head kicks and straight punches, but Joanna’s leg kicks and body kicks were doing serious damage. She even landed a front kick to Waterson’s mouth before the frame came to a close.

Entering the third round, Jedrzejczyk was landing her leg kicks at a 90 percent rate. She kept the same pressure up as Waterson tried to get in close with combinations. Jedrzejczyk would counter with her own shots while nearly locking up a D’Arce choke along the cage. Waterson would change things up when she got inside, quickly scored a takedown, and threatened with a tight rear-naked choke. Jedrzejczyk would eventually bust free and land a flurry of punches before the bell.

Jedrzejczyk went back to her leg attacks in the fourth round while mixing in some strikes upstairs. Waterson tried to engage with offense but there was a noticeable speed difference. Joanna was too precise and consistent for “Karate Hottie” to have enough time to find her shots. Jedrzejczyk even scored a takedown before the round ended.

Despite a gnarly swollen foot from all of her landed kicks, Jedrzejczyk still plodded forward to cut off Waterson early into the fifth. Waterson was able to grab a hold of a body lock midway through the frame and try to slow the action, but Jedrzejczyk eventually broke free. Not that soon after Waterson launched back inside and secured another takedown, yet again grabbing a hold of Jedrzejczyk’s back. Waterson’s momentum wouldn’t last long as Jedrzejczyk defended, separated once more, and pushed her significant strike count over 200 by the end of the round.

In the end, Jedrzejczyk won a tactical five-round fight to prove that she’s still one of the best female fighters in the world today. When the former champion is fighting this type of fight with unflappable pressure and precision she’s nearly impossible to beat. This performance over Waterson should be enough for Jedrzejczyk to earn another UFC title shot and set up a meeting with new champion Weili Zhang.

Check out the video highlights above and below courtesy of UFC/ESPN.

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