Joanna Jedrzejczyk will be returning to the division she once ruled for so long in her next UFC appearance,
Joanna Jedrzejczyk has revealed she will be returning to the strawweight division after a one-fight stint at flyweight.
Jedrzejczyk (15-3) missed out on 125-pound gold when she lost a unanimous decision to Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 231 in December. The former strawweight champion, who successfully defended her title five times, last fought at 115-pounds in July of last year defeating Tecia Torres by decision.
She revealed her timeline for her return to the octagon and her plans to drop back down to strawweight when she spoke to MMA Fighting and other reporters at the UFC 234 media day earlier this week.
“I will go down to 115 [pounds]. I need some time to refresh my body, refresh my mind and I feel the fire. People define me as an athlete after my victory or lost fights, but I put on great camps. Before my last camp I was quality over quantity, but I did both. (Transcription via MMA Weekly)
“I’ve been working really hard for the last few years and I will be back stronger.”
Although losing out to Shevchenko, Jedrzejczyk explained she didn’t regret taking the fight with her old kickboxing foe, but she feels like she wasn’t in her best physical shape for the fight.
“I’m very happy I could face Valentina Shevchenko,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I didn’t feel the power of her punches but definitely I felt her clinch and that’s the thing — the fight with Valentina went on and off, on and off so I didn’t have time to physically prepare for this fight. Because in the clinching she was super, super strong. My takedown defense is very good on point but it was like a body lock [takedown].
Jedrzejcyzk said as much as she wanted to accept a fight offer for next month, she turned it down because she wants to take more time off to train and learn, before potentially fighting in the second half of the calendar year.
“Probably I will fight in the second part of this year. Maybe August, maybe October. Of course, I’ve got an offer to fight in March but I want to take some time for myself, to train, learn. I love to train, I love to learn and I want to just do this for myself.”