Joanna Jędrzejczyk

Joanna Jędrzejczyk ([jɔˈanna jɛndˈʐɛjtʂɨk] () (YEND-ZHEY-CHIK); born August 18, 1987) is a Polish mixed martial artist and former Muay Thai kickboxer who competes in the women's flyweight and women's strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). She is a former UFC Women's Strawweight Champion. As of February 10, 2020, she is #4 in the UFC women's strawweight rankings and #5 in UFC women's pound-for-pound rankings.

Jędrzejczyk discovered Muay Thai when she was 16, while taking up fitness, which eventually led her to compete in national and European tournaments. Jędrzejczyk competed in Muay Thai and kickboxing for 10 years, winning over 60 matches. Her amateur Muay Thai accomplishments include six IFMA world medals (five gold, one silver) and four IFMA European championships with a record of 37 wins and 3 losses. During her professional career Jędrzejczyk won five world titles including the WKN World Championship, J Girls Championship, WBKF Championship, WKF European Championship, and the WMC Championship. Her professional record is 27–3.

Early career

Jędrzejczyk made her professional debut in mixed martial arts (MMA) on May 19, 2012, at SFT - MMA Fight Night Diva SPA against Sylwia Juskiewicz, winning via unanimous decision. On December 8, 2012, at MFC 5 she defeated Lily Kazak by submission via rear naked choke. On June 20, 2013, at Battle of Moscow 12 she defeated the then #1 Russian WMMA flyweight fighter Julia Berezikova via unanimous decision.

By July 2013, Jędrzejczyk was the #7 women's flyweight fighter in the world by Fight Matrix.

On June 7, 2014, at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 69 she defeated Rosi Sexton via knockout in the second round.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Jędrzejczyk officially signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in July 2014. She made her promotional debut, now fighting as a strawweight, on July 26, 2014, at UFC on Fox: Lawler vs. Brown against Juliana Lima. She won the fight via unanimous decision.

Jędrzejczyk next faced undefeated strawweight top contender Cláudia Gadelha on December 13, 2014, at UFC on Fox 13. She won the fight via split decision. The judges' decision was met with much controversy as the majority of the MMA media scored the bout in favor of Gadelha.

Strawweight Champion

Jędrzejczyk faced Carla Esparza for the UFC Strawweight Championship on March 14, 2015, at UFC 185. Jędrzejczyk won the one-sided bout via TKO in the second round, becoming the first UFC title-holder from Poland and first female European UFC champion. Subsequently, Jędrzejczyk won a Performance of the Night bonus.

Jędrzejczyk's first title defense was against Jessica Penne on June 20, 2015, at UFC Fight Night: Jędrzejczyk vs. Penne in Berlin, Germany. She successfully defended the title against Penne, defeating her in the third round via TKO following a flurry of punches and a knee against the cage. Both participants were awarded Fight of the Night honors. Jędrzejczyk later underwent surgery to repair a fractured thumb incurred during the fight.

In her second title defense, Jędrzejczyk faced Valérie Létourneau on November 15, 2015, in the co-main event at UFC 193. She won the fight by unanimous decision to retain her title. The 220 significant strikes landed by Jędrzejczyk were the most ever in a championship fight. 70 leg kicks were landed by Jędrzejczyk, the most in UFC history. The previous record was 68, set by Carlos Condit against Nick Diaz at UFC 143.

In early 2016, the UFC announced that Jędrzejczyk would be one of the coaches, opposite former opponent Cláudia Gadelha on The Ultimate Fighter 23. A rematch between the two took place on July 8, 2016, at The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale in the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. She won the fight via unanimous decision. Both participants were awarded Fight of the Night for their performance.

Jędrzejczyk successfully defended her title for the 4th consecutive time by defeating fellow Pole Karolina Kowalkiewicz by unanimous decision on November 12, 2016, at UFC 205 in Madison Square Garden, the first event the promotion had held in the historic arena.

Jędrzejczyk faced Jéssica Andrade on May 13, 2017, at UFC 211. She won the fight via unanimous decision, and successfully defended her title for the fifth consecutive time. Jędrzejczyk landed the most significant strikes in UFC championship history (225), had the highest significant strike differential in UFC championship history (142), and broke her previous record for most leg kicks thrown in a single fight (75).

For her sixth title defense, Jędrzejczyk faced Rose Namajunas at UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden in New York on November 4, 2017. She lost the bout via TKO (punches) in the first round, marking her first professional loss in mixed martial arts competition.

Post-championship

A title fight rematch between Namajunas and Jędrzejczyk took place on April 7, 2018, at UFC 223. She lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Jędrzejczyk faced Tecia Torres on July 28, 2018, at UFC on Fox 30. She won the fight via unanimous decision.

Return to Flyweight

On September 20, 2018, it was announced that Jędrzejczyk was expected to return to flyweight to face Valentina Shevchenko on December 8, 2018, at UFC 231 for the vacant UFC Women's Flyweight Championship. Due to UFC 230 being in need of a main event, Shevchenko was booked against Sijara Eubanks. After the UFC announced Cormier vs. Lewis on October 9, 2018, UFC confirmed the bout between Shevchenko and Eubanks was canceled and that Jędrzejczyk would again fight for the title against Shevchenko in the co-main event at UFC 231. Jędrzejczyk lost the fight via a unanimous decision.

Return to Strawweight

Jędrzejczyk faced Michelle Waterson on October 12, 2019, at UFC on ESPN+ 19. Per news reports, Jędrzejczyk had informed the UFC that she might not be able to make the Strawweight limit; however, she weighed in at 115.5 pounds. She won the fight via unanimous decision.

Jędrzejczyk faced Zhang Weili for UFC Strawweight on March 7, 2020, at UFC 248. She lost the fight via split decision. This fight earned her the Fight of the Night award. Both fighters were later handed a two-month medical suspension which expires on May 5, with a non-contact sparring clause until April 22.

A decorated kickboxer, Jędrzejczyk is known for precise and calculated striking. She employs a sprawl-and-brawl strategy in MMA fighting. While standing with opponents, she constantly varies between high punches and body shots, also utilizing knees, elbows, and high front kicks. She also uses a flurry of strikes just to confuse the opponent before landing a solid strike, much akin to Chuck Liddell. SportsJoe.ie MMA journalist Darragh Murphy summed up her fighting style: "Her technique has the right combination of sublimity and relentlessness, expressing one's typically violent art through beauty, the perfect storm."

Jędrzejczyk is soft-spoken and has a calm and endearing personality with fans. However, she often employs the use of trash-talk against her opponents before fights, and her fights have been known to be violent and bloody. UFC president Dana White has praised her stating "She is so bad ass... pound-for-pound [she is the] best female fighter on Earth... Her killer instinct is ridiculous." MMA media have called Jędrzejczyk "must-see TV".

Jędrzejczyk has been praised for her elite level sprawl-and-brawl strategy. Fightland striking analyst Jack Slack has written that "she's being likened to Chuck Liddell, and that is a pretty solid way to describe her...while she has an undoubtedly better technical striking game than Liddell". BloodyElbow.com striking analyst Connor Ruebusch has written "Distance, angles, and damage. These are the key ingredients of successful takedown defense, and the elements that make Joanna Jędrzejczyk and José Aldo such masterful strikers." The Washington Post striking analyst Patrick Wyman wrote that "sound fundamentals fuel the best fighters in the world, and nobody has better mastered the bread and butter of footwork and distance management than Aldo and Jedrzejczyk". Foxsports.com striking analyst Jason Parillo has stated that "Joanna's MMA boxing is remarkable. It's second to none".

Since her training camp for UFC 205, Jędrzejczyk has trained at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida.

Joanna Jędrzejczyk was born in Olsztyn, Poland. She has a twin sister, Katarzyna, and one older sister, Ewa. Jędrzejczyk is a Catholic and prays with a rosary before entering the ring or Octagon.

She was the fiancée of former Polish football player Przemysław Buta. In a 2019 interview, she cited "some difficulties" in her personal life for "almost two years," confirming that she is no longer engaged to Buta.

On January 28, 2020, Joanna Jędrzejczyk posted an image of her incoming competition against Chinese martial artist Weili Zhang on her Instagram. In this poster Jędrzejczyk was wearing a gas mask which is widely considered insinuating a then-outbreak of a coronavirus in China. The gas mask and the three emojis: "See-No-Evil Monkey". "Happy and Crying Face" and "Smile With Hearts" in the same post caused wide criticism due to the insult to her opponent and disrespect to the people that were suffering from illness. She later released a public apology.

Mixed martial arts

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC Women's Strawweight Championship (one time)
  • Five successful title defenses
  • Most title fights in UFC women's divisions (10)
  • Performance of the Night (one time)
  • Fight of the Night (three times) vs. Jessica Penne, Cláudia Gadelha and Zhang Weili
  • Most wins in UFC women's strawweight history (10)
  • Highest significant strike differential in UFC championship history (+142 vs. Jéssica Andrade)
  • 2nd-highest significant strike differential in UFC championship history (+121 vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz)
  • 3rd-highest significant strike differential in UFC championship history (+117 vs. Valérie Létourneau)
  • 4th-highest significant strike differential in UFC championship history (+113 vs. Cláudia Gadelha)
  • Highest significant strikes thrown in a UFC championship fight (+225 vs. Jéssica Andrade)
  • 2nd-highest significant strikes thrown in a UFC championship fight (+220 vs. Valérie Létourneau)
  • Most leg kicks in a fight in UFC history (+78 vs Michelle Waterson)
  • 2nd-most leg kicks in a fight in UFC history (+75 vs Jessica Andrade)
  • First Polish UFC Champion
  • First female European UFC Champion
  • Third European UFC Champion
• Women's MMA Press Awards
  • 2014 Strawweight of the Year
• Yahoo! Sports
  • 2015 Best Fighter of the Half-Year
• Fight Matrix
  • 2015 Female Fighter of the Year
• MMAjunkie.com
  • 2015 Female Fighter of the Year
  • 2016 July Fight of the Month
  • 2020 March Fight of the Month
• Fightbooth.com
  • 2015 Lady Violence Award
• Sherdog.com
  • 2015 All-Violence First Team

Kickboxing

• J-Girls Kickboxing Federation
  • J-Girls Champion (2009)
• World Budokai Federation
  • WBKF Pro Title (2013)
• World Kickboxing Federation
  • WKF European Champion (2010)
• World Kickboxing Network
  • WKN World Champion (2010)

Muay Thai

• IFMA World Championships
  • 2013  Gold -57 kg
  • 2012  Gold -57 kg
  • 2011  Gold -57 kg
  • 2010  Gold -57 kg
  • 2009  Gold -57 kg
  • 2008  Silver -57 kg
• IFMA European Championships
  • IFMA European Champion (four times)
• World Muaythai Council
  • WMC/EMF European Champion (one time)