Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
“If she’s going to be the champ, why not? I want to face the best. I might consider doing this again.”
Joanna Jedrzejczyk is currently recovering from her five-round slugfest with Weili Zhang at UFC 248 and, although she dropped a split decision and came up short on reclaiming the strawweight title, the former champ is pleased with her performance and proud to have participated in one of the greatest title fights in UFC history,
Speaking to MMA Fighting in her first interview since the fight, Jedrzejczyk talked about how close the fight was and whether she could have done anything different to steal some of the rounds.
“I know that the fight was very close,” Jedrzejczyk said. “The fight was close every round. It was back and forth. I ask myself, I questioned myself during the fight ‘Joanna, can you do better?’ and of course I’m going to watch this fight and see things I could do better. I’m like this after every training. If the plan was good, I’m always like no, it can be better. You can fix this and that and make this a different way. Probably after this fight there’s going to be so many ideas that I can get for the next fight, for the next camp. You can always do something better.
“I questioned myself in the fight. Standing in front of Weili Zhang, you’re doing everything you can and you did everything you could, physical, mental, the weight cut, I did my best. That’s why I did so good on Saturday. It was not luck. I worked so hard.”
American Top Team (ATT) head coach Mike Brown would like to see Joanna face Zhang in an immediate rematch and, although Joanna is certainly open to the idea, the 32-year-old will be taking some time off relax before she commits to her next fight.
“Sure why not?” Jedrzejczyk said of a possible rematch. “If she’s going to be the champ, why not? I want to face the best. I might consider doing this again.
“Right now, I just want to go home and relax. I don’t want to think about my next move, my next fight. I don’t want to think about the future yet. I need the time off to be myself but I’m fine. I’m strong. I keep my head up. Of course the expectations are very high but like I said, it’s not just about having the belt physically. I’m very proud of myself. My job is to be one of the best athletes and I am one of the best in the world.”
Jedrzejczyk is currently ranked #4 in the UFC strawweight rankings and widely considered one of the greatest female champions of all time.