The Ultimate Fighting Championship is constantly looking for the next big star, especially among the female competitors on its roster. The organization has seen the success of Ronda Rousey and would love to emulate that situation with any of the women’s bantamweight and strawweight athletes in the company. UFC Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk seems to be the type of fighter who can fit into that position, and do so with ease.
The top women’s fighter at 115 pounds is must-see TV. But unfortunately, a large segment of the mixed martial arts audience does not recognize that quite yet. As she prepares for her first title defense against Jessica Penne at UFC Fight Night 69, there is still a lot for the fight world to learn about this Polish fighter. However, once her background is better understood, it’s clear that she has the skills and personality to become a major name in this sport.
In the cage, Jedrzejczyk is the type of fighter that is perfectly tailored to draw in the mainstream contingent of fans. Her skills as a multiple time world champion Muay Thai competitor easily have her ranked as one of the most technical strikers in the promotion. She puts together combinations that are thrilling and painful to watch at the same time.
In just two rounds of action against Carla Esparza at UFC 185, Jedrzejczyk attempted 107 strikes and landed more than half of them. What’s even more impressive is that she has such pinpoint accuracy in her combinations when aiming for her opponent’s face. Ninety-four percent of her strikes were thrown at Esparza’s head and the result proved just how effective those attempts were.
Not only that, she’s getting much better in defending the takedown. At UFC on Fox 13 she faced Claudia Gadelha, who is a member of the famed Nova Uniao team. Jedrzejczyk struggled to stop the Brazilian’s takedowns as she was put on her back seven times throughout the fight. She did enough to pull out a split decision victory and showed just how much she improved when she stopped 16 of Esparza’s 17 takedown attempts just a few short months later.
This weekend is an opportunity for the women’s strawweight champion to really shine. If she goes out and dominates another competitor, she will have earned the opportunity to be a featured bout on a UFC PPV event. The UFC would be hard pressed to not have her as a co-main event on a Fox event or in a PPV slot.
Jedrzejczyk has shown personality as well when it counts. The way she pesters her opponents doesn’t go as far as Conor McGregor’s antics, but it’s enough to get a rise out of them while giving the fans something to chuckle about. In today’s MMA world, fighters need other ways to gain attention and this is a start for the young champion.
UFC Fight Pass is getting a title fight this weekend that some may think is not worthy of their time. Unfortunately for them, they will miss out on the development of a champion who has the potential to become a big name draw for the UFC.
• Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Jessica Penne (UFC Strawweight Championship)
Click the stars to rate your anticipation for this fight.
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UFC Fight Night 69: Jedrzejczyk vs. Penne (formerly UFC Fight Night 69: Gustafsson vs. Teixeira) takes place on June 20, 2015 at O2 World Berlin in Berlin, Germany.
Click the stars to rate how good you think UFC Fight Night 69 will be.
