Female UFC Fighters: Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Joanna Jedrzejczyk is the current UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion, and the third one in the history of UFC that comes from Europe. She is pound-for-pound the number one female fighter in the world. Coming from the world of Muay Thai, she is also a six-time world champion and a four-time European champion in the sport.

Joanna is known as a tenacious fighter, almost impossible to take down. Her vocabulary of techniques is impressive as she varies between kicks, punches, elbow shots, and knees. She hits devastatingly hard with great precision, but she is also able to stun and confuse her opponents with a flurry of blows in the style of Chuck Liddell.

After defending her title twice, first time against Jessica Penne and second time against Valerie Letourneau, there seems to be no female fighter eager to take on the reigning champion. The only vocal contender is Claudia Gadelha who keeps promising to get her revenge on the fiery Polish fighter.

Joanna seems quite confident that she is the best and will stay the best. Though some journalists claim her bold talk is part of some psychological warfare, miss Jedrzejczyk flatly states that her confidence stems only from her hard work. She is using the downtime to improve on her soft techniques, and to learn more about jiu-jitsu and wrestling. Joanna doesn’t want to rest on her laurels. While she’s happy to receive praise, she is dedicated to improving herself and turning into a more well-rounded martial artist.

Coming from a European country is something that is giving Joanna wings. She isn’t only fighting for herself, but envisions it as if she was fighting for the entire continent as well. At the post-fight interview with Dan Hardy, she claimed that the belt was “our title”, referring to the entire European region. Joanna fashioned herself into an ambassador of Euro MMA, if you will.

“In UFC, we are one family. The whole UFC is one family, but in Europe we have the European UFCs and I want to be part of, not just the big international UFC, but the European UFC as well. So, maybe it’s a good plan to fight one time in America, and one time in Europe, so everyone is going to be happy. I am happy that my last fight was in Europe, maybe I will even defend my title in Poland, so let’s think about it!” concluded Joanna Jedrzejczyk.