Joanna Jedrzejczyk thinks a rematch with champion Zhang Weili could make great profit for the UFC. The former strawweight champion lost in a high-paced five-round battle that ended in a split decision favoring the Chinese champion.
The bout was in the co-main event of UFC 248 in Las Vegas.
“I’m very happy that I could give people what they always want,” Jedrzejczyk told MMA Junkie. “I put so much work in camp for so many weeks and I put on a hell of a fight. I’m very happy. It was probably one of the best fights in my fighting career, but I’m proud of every fight… It was a war. I know people want this fight, and I need to rewatch it because I haven’t watched it.”
Jedrzejczyk (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) thinks running it back with Zhang would do good business for the UFC.
“Big money – that’s it. That’s what I want,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I don’t need to make more money, but it’s a money fight, and I want a pice of this cake. This fight is a big fight. We were not the main event, (but) we put on a hell of a fight. People love watching … only big things, only big things.”
Jedrzejczyk believes she’s still the top contender at 115-pounds. She also thought she did enough to get the win.
“The way we fought last time, we’re both warriors, and the people want to see it because it was so close,” Jedrzejczyk said. “There’s so many girls who deserve this, but I think I’m the one.”
“A few days, a few weeks ago, I was like, “I’m not fighting for the next 12 months.” But a few days ago, I texted Dana (White) that I wanted to fight,” Jedrzejczyk said. “That’s the thing. You never know when you’re going to wake up and say, “OK, I’m leaving. I’m going back to the States and start my camp. Sign the agreement. The UFC – we need big fights, and my fight with Weili Zhang is going to be big. So they need this big-money fight. We’ll see. I don’t know.”
With the current pandemic of COVID-19, it’s uncertain when the UFC will resume schedule.
“There’s so many athletes in the UFC and I feel so sorry for all of them – all of us – that we can’t fight,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I was lucky I had a fight with an audience – it was a great show. But I feel so sorry for the rest of the athletes. They couldn’t perform – they were training, preparing, spending money, but they couldn’t perform and make this money. So that’s difficult.”
