Joanna Jedrzejczyk gave Jessica Penne a necklace Friday. She gave her a whole lot more than that Saturday.
Jedrzejczyk retained the UFC women’s strawweight title with a dominant, third-round TKO win over Jessica Penne in the main event of UFC Fight Night 69 on Saturday in Berlin. Jedrzejczyk dominated every round, bloodied Penne in the second and finished things with a bludgeoning against the cage in the third.
“And again and again and again,” Jedrzejczyk said afterward. “And still. I’m gonna be champion for awhile. Nobody is gonna take this belt from me.”
Penne, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, tried hard to get Jedrzejczyk to the ground on multiple occasions and succeeded a couple of times — but very briefly. Quickly, Jedrzejczyk was able to bounce back to her feet and continue what was a clinic in striking. Jedrzejczyk hit Penne with everything, from right hands to left hooks to body shots to leg kicks. It was a few knees that forced referee Marc Goddard to step in to stop the beating.
Jedrzejczyk (10-0), who hails from Poland, has won all four of her fights in the UFC. She won the belt with a second-round TKO of Carla Esparza at UFC 185 in March and also owns a split decision win over Claudia Gadelha. The winner of a fight between Gadelha and Jessica Aguilar at UFC 190 on Aug. 1 could be Jedrzejczyk’s next challenger.
“Are they ready for me?” Jedrzejczyk said. “No.”
Penne (12-3), who was coming off a split decision win over Randa Markos last December, was a game and tough opponent. Penne, 32, tried tirelessly to get Jedrzejczyk, 27, down with clinches against the cage, but to no avail. By the end, Penne’s face was bloodied, her eye was bruised and there was a hematoma on her forehead.
In the co-main event, Tatsuya Kawajiri grinded out a unanimous decision over Dennis Siver. The Japanese favorite couldn’t get Siver down, but that all changed in the second and third rounds when Kawajiri worked from top position.
Kawajiri (34-8-2) has won seven of his last eight fights, though he was coming off a loss to Clay Guida in April 2014. Siver (22-11, 1 NC) has now lost two straight.
Also on the main card, Peter Sobotta picked up his seventh straight win with a submission finish over Steven Kennedy at 2:57 of the first round. Nick Hein won a unanimous decision over Lukasz Sajewski to open the main card.
On the action-packed prelims, Makwan Amirkhani beat Masio Fullen via submission in the first round, Mairbek Taisumove defeated Alan Patrick by second-round TKO and Arnold Allen staged a huge rally to submit Alan Omer in the third round.
Noad Lahat pulled out a close majority decision over Niklas Backstrom, Scott Askham knocked out Antonio dos Santos in the first round, Magomed Mustafaev beat Piotr Hallmann by second-round TKO in his UFC debut and Taylor Lapilus knocked out Ulka Sasaki in the second round.