Joanna Jedrzejczyk Wants First Title Defense Against Rose Namajunas
Joanna Jedrzejczyk is looking to recapture the UFC Strawweight title next month. She says that if she wins there, she wants her first defense to be against Rose Namajunas.
Joanna had an incredible run as the 115lb champion. However, a first round knockout loss to Namajunas, in 2017, ended her reign. Following that, she got an immediate rematch, which she would again lose, this time by close unanimous decision.
Now, two wins at strawweight in a row has put Joanna Jedrzejczyk back in title contention. She is set to face off against new champ Weili Zhang, at UFC 248, on March 7th. This will be the first title defense for the first Chinese champion in UFC history.
Jedrzejczyk is not looking past Zhang by any means. Nevertheless, she already has an idea of who she wants to face, if she were to be victorious. Speaking in a recent interview, Joanna explained that she hopes for a third fight with Rose Namajunas.
“I am really proud of myself and my team of how we fought that last fight against Rose Namajunas,” Joanna said. “The fight could have gone either way and the loss was hard to swallow and maybe I didn’t do enough. Now, I know I believe in myself 100 percent and can do enough to win. I’m really happy for Rose that she is back and fighting Andrade and having the rematch. We will see what is next, but that fight makes sense as it is big money. I want that one.”
It could be a pretty tough sell for the UFC to book a third fight between Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Rose Namajunas. Either way, both ladies have to get through tough tests in their next bouts, in order for it to even be a consideration.
