The UFC’s biggest star is Ronda Rousey. This is nearly without question.
She has been the flag-bearer for women in the UFC. It has become part of Zuffa legend at this point, but it is true that Rousey led the way for female fighters in the UFC. Without her, they probably would have still ended up fighting in the world’s biggest MMA promotion, but it would have been a slower process.
She busted the door open and charged through, and everyone else followed.
But she has also been the only true female star on the roster. That’s partially due to her dominance in the Octagon, but it’s also because her personality and star power have been so very outsized compared to everybody else.
Those days might be over.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the reigning strawweight champion, has all the tools to be the UFC’s second female star, and she is well on her way.
She destroyed Carla Esparza—who was then considered by many to be the best in the division—to take the belt earlier this year. On Saturday in Berlin, she absolutely dismantled the veteran fighter Jessica Penne in brutal fashion, using a wide variety of strikes to bloody her opponent before the referee mercifully put a stop to the proceedings in the third round of their UFC Fight Night 69 main event.
There was a moment in the second round that I’ll never forget; future Jedrzejczyk opponents would do well to remember it too. Jedrzejczyk, in Penne’s grappling range (where the challenger is at her most dangerous), crushed Penne’s nose with an elbow. Actually, she didn’t just crush it; Penne’s nose essentially exploded, and the blood began flowing.
It kept flowing, and Jedrzejczyk kept striking. There are so few true world-class strikers in mixed martial arts, and yet people throw the term carelessly around far too often.
But with Jedrzejczyk, it is a true thing. She is patient, accurate and violent. She backed Penne against the fence, and Penne covered her entire head with her arms. Jedrzejczyk waited for the slightest opening in between her opponent’s arms and then blasted her in the face with a straight right followed by two ultra-fast hooks.
Simply put, she is a different level of fighter when she’s striking. With Rousey, once she grabs you, the fight is essentially over. With Jedrzejczyk, unless you can grab her, put her on the mat and keep her there, you have no chance of winning.
No other fighter in the strawweight division stands a chance against her in a striking battle. Not Penne, not Claudia Gadelha, not the newly signed Jessica Aguilar. All of them will have to rely on taking Jedrzejczyk to the ground. If they can’t get her there, they’re going to meet a violent end.
After finishing Penne, Jedrzejczyk received social media props from the reigning women’s bantamweight champion.
But Jedrzejczyk is more than just a violent fighter. She is charismatic, brash and confident, and her interviews—conducted in her Polish-accented English—are quickly becoming the stuff of legend. She says what she’ll do in a fight, and then she does it, and then afterward she reminds you just how good she really is.
“Nobody will take this belt from me for a long time,” she said after the fight, and it is easy to believe her.
She is a long way from being on Rousey’s level of stardom. But performances like this one, mixed with her charm and natural charisma, will make Jedrzejczyk the UFC’s next big female star. Both women are violent in their own way—Rousey with her armbar and Jedrzejczyk with her punches, kicks, knees and elbows—but they share one common trait: They are ass-kickers, and they don’t mind telling you so.
During the filming of The Ultimate Fighter 20, Dana White famously said that the strawweight version of Rousey might be in the house. He was talking about Rose Namajunas, who lost to Esparza in the first-ever UFC title match in the division.
It turns out it wasn’t Namajunas at all. The strawweight version of Rousey wasn’t even in the TUF house.
But she’s here now, and it looks like she’s here to stay.
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