Former UFC strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk is still looking to regain the 115 throne, but she still has the flyweight crown in her sights as well.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk had defended her strawweight championship five times when she began plotting moving up to become a double champion by capturing the flyweight championship. Unfortunately, for Jedrzejczyk, those plans were altered after she lost the strawweight championship to Rose Namajunas at 217. Then, instead of making the move up, she decided to stay put until she reclaimed the strawweight title.
Those plans would be put to a halt as well after Namajunas defeated Jedrzejczyk for the second consecutive time at UFC 223. Joanna then decided to begin putting in the work to earn another opportunity at becoming a two-time strawweight champion, and she got off to a strong start in doing so by defeating Tecia Torres in July of 2018.
But then an opportunity suddenly arose to become a flyweight champion after all after the flyweight championship was vacated due to Nicco Montano’s inability to defend the title. Valentina Shevchenko needed a dance partner to crown a new champion, and Joanna stepped up…maybe a little bit too soon.
“Yeah, maybe in the future. Before my fight with Valentina Shevchenko, I didn’t have enough time to prepare for this fight for a different division, you know? Jedrzejczyk said in a UFC 245 media scrum. “I had only six weeks to prepare and face one of the greatest.”
Joanna believes that if she had more time, she would have fared better against Shevchenko, and this knowledge along with her coach’s advice means that a move to 125 is still in Joanna’s sights.
“So definitely,” Jedrzejczyk said of a move up to flyweight. “That’s the plan for the future.”
Do you believe Joanna Jedrzejczyk should stay at strawweight or move up to flyweight?
