UFC: Joanna Jedrzejczyk Puts Retirement Rumours To Rest

Joanna Jedrzejczyk recently caused quite a stir in the MMA community when she included the hashtag #33andretired on a social media post, causing fans to wonder if the former UFC strawweight champion had decided to hang up her gloves.

“I Love It”

However, while speaking to SCMP MMA‘s Tom Taylor, Jedrzejczyk put any speculation to rest, saying she loves the sport too much to walk away just yet.

“I will be fighting,” Jedrzejczyk stated. “I can’t stop. I won’t stop. I was thinking, ‘Maybe I’ll do one, two, three more fights,’ but why not fight every year? Even if I do it once a year or twice a year, why not do it? I love it. It doesn’t matter if I keep winning or losing or keep fighting for the title or not, I just love it.

“I see things differently,” she continued. “People give me so much energy and strength. I just want to do it for my fans all over the world.”

COVID Issues

The Polish mixed martial artist has not competed since UFC 248, when she came up just short in her valiant effort of retaining her strawweight strap against the current champion, Zhang Weili. A fight that will arguably be in the running for ‘Fight of the Year’. As the global coronavirus pandemic has stopped her training at America Top Team due to travel restrictions, Jedrzejczyk doesn’t know when she will fight next.

“For sure I will not be fighting till the end of the year because of the Covid situation,” Jedrzejczyk declared. “I don’t see myself training outside of American Top Team with my coaches, my whole team.”

“Being Champ Again”

When asked what she hopes to accomplish before officially retiring, Jedrzejczyk stated that she wants reclaim the title that she successfully defended five times before losing to Rose Namajunas at UFC 217.

“Being the champ again,” she stated. “I just want to give big fights to the fans, to the people, because I know my value is very big. I just want people to see that we can never stop, that we can’t give up, that we should fight for our goals and dreams. 

“I lost my last fight, but I feel I will rock the next fight even better,” she continued. “The last camp was special, but I know that I can do even better this time, and I will. I can’t wait. I’m excited. [There will be] lots of pain, lots of tears, lots of blood, sacrificing myself, but it’s worth it to step into the UFC Octagon and fight for the belt.”

As of now, Namajunas seems to be next in line for a crack at Zhang’s belt. But we could see the winner of that fight face Jedrzejczyk once again.

Hall Of Famer

When her career eventually does come to an end, Jedrzejczyk is confident that her name will be remembered, along with all the other great female athletes who have graced the Octagon.

“[I want to be] a Hall of Famer,” she said. “One of the best. There’s me, Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes and Cris Cyborg. It’s the four of us who accomplished so much in this sport. I always wanted to be remembered, and I will be remembered.”

Who would you like to see Joanna jedrzejczyk fight before she hangs up her gloves?

See also:

Tagged: , , , , , ,

Leave comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.