Former UFC strawweight champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, has claimed the promotion have formally offered her a title challenge in November of December of this year in her return to the Octagon, however, the Pole maintains she plans on returning to competition much sooner than that timeframe.
Olsztyn native, Jedrzejczyk has been out of competition since March of 2020 where she co-headlined UFC 248 against former strawweight champion, Zhang Weili in an unsuccessful title challenge.
Turning in the consensus Fight of the Year alongside the Hebei native, as well as arguably the best title fight in the history of the strawweight division, Jedrzejczyk maintained she would not return to competition unless fans returned in tandem, amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk was recently removed from the official strawweight rankings due to inactivity
Late last year, Jedrzejczyk was also removed from the official strawweight and pound-for-pound rankings by the organization due to inactivity, but welcomed her exclusion ahead of a planned Octagon return in 2022.
The 34-year-old maintained she would be fighting for a title upon her return to the division, if not a number-one contenders fight against former champion, Carla Esparza in a rematch, however, the latter is now expected to rematch current champion, Rose Namajunas instead.
With that latest development, Jedrzejczyk, who claimed UFC president, Dana White had offered her a title fight toward the end of this year, however, the Poland native maintains she wants to fight sooner than that. And welcomes a rematch with most recent opponent, Weili.
“I thought it might be Carla Esparza (next), but it’s been confirmed she is next to fight for the championship,” Joanna Jedrzejczyk told Kanal Sportowy. “There was also (Marina) Rodriguez, but she fights Yan (Xiaonan) in March, so that leaves (Zhang) Weili.”
“I don’t see any other fight,” Joanna Jedrzejczyk continued. “Dana (White) made me an offer to fight for the championship, but I would have to wait until November (or) December and I don’t want to wait. I want to fight.”
During her run as undisptued UFC strawweight champion, Jedrzejczyk first defeated the aforenoted, Esparza to clinch the title, before turning in five straight successful title defenses agaisnt Jessica Penne, Valerie Letourneau, Claudia Gadelha, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, and former champion, Jessica Andrade.