In the End, Joanna Jedrzejczyk Lost The Very Arms Race She Ignited
Joanna Jedrzejczyk returned to the cage for the first time in two years at UFC 275, only to retire from combat sports after suffering a shocking spinning back fist KO at the hands of rival Weili Zhang.
Now will come the flood of acknowledgements, tributes, and retrospectives, and rightfully so. Jedrzejczyk remains the most decorated women’s strawweight champ in UFC history. Her five title defenses remain unparalleled at 115 pounds — but in the end, Jedrzejczyk was a victim of her own success.
The emergence of “Joanna Champion” in 2015 pushed the fledgling weight class to the next level, allowing it to become the most competitive on the female side of the sport. Jedrzejczyk’s ability to stuff takedowns against the likes of two-time champ Carla Esparza, and pick apart powerful opponents like Jessica Andrade on the feet, set the bar in the early years of the division. But along came Weili Zhang, and Rose Namajunas, both of whom eventually picked up a pair of wins against Jedrzejczyk, with Namajunas dethroning her, and Zhang doing the same to “Thug Rose.”
You can argue that Jedrzejczyk set the standard, only to eventually be surpassed by a pair of younger fighters who saw the exact blueprint they needed to succeed in the sport.
Since Jedrzejczyk was dethroned in 2015, the UFC women’s strawweight title has been passed around like a hot potato, going from Joanna to Thug Rose, to Jessica Andrade, to Zhang, back to Rose, and then back to Carla Esparza. That gives context to just how good Joanna Jedrzejczyk was at her peak.
