Rose Namajunas is prepared to make her second title defense at UFC 237 against Jessica Andrade after a lengthy layoff. When Namajunas makes her return at the pay per view, it will be over a year since her last fight. That last fight was, of course, a rematch against former long-reigning strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 223. Rose Namajunas would defeat Jedrzejczyk for the second consecutive time, causing fans to speculate what would be next for the self-proclaimed strawweight queen.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk has grown accustomed to fighting strictly in world championship bouts, but after losing the rematch to Namajunas, Jedrzejczyk had no choice but to be open to a non-title fight in the strawweight division. She did so with the belief that a victory over Tecia Torres would be enough to earn another shot at reclaiming the strawweight championship. Jedrzejczyk was victorious over Torres, but she has walked back her expectations of a rematch. Though Jedrzejczyk still hopes of receiving a title shot in her next fight, in a recent media scrum backstage at UFC 234, she acknowledged that she may need to win one more fight before receiving another title shot:
“This division is the lightest in the UFC but it’s definitely one of the strongest,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I don’t know who is next. … I want to fight for the belt. I might have one fight before, but I want to fight for a belt.”
In her last Octagon outing, Joanna Jedrzejczyk had another title shot, this time in the flyweight division against Valentina Shevchenko. Shevchenko handed Jedrzejczyk her third loss in four fights, sending a willing Jedrzejczyk back to all-too-familiar strawweight division. And though Jedrzejczyk states the division is light, fresh potential opponents such as co-#3-ranked fighters Tatiana Suarez and Nina Ansaroff are waiting to show her just how much has changed in her brief time away from the division.
Whom would you like to see Joanna Jedrzejczyk fight next?
