Former UFC strawweight titleholder Joanna Jedrzejczyk sees herself as being champion again soon.
The Polish fighter is set to return next month at UFC 275 against Weili Zhang. The bout will be her first since March 2020, also against Zhang. Their first bout was arguably the greatest women’s MMA fight ever, which ended with the champion winning via split decision.
Ahead of a return to the cage, Jedrzejczyk has high hopes for her comeback fight. While she’s not trying to look past her bout next month, she believes that she’ll be fighting for gold by the end of 2022.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk discussed her plans for the year on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. The former strawweight champion sees herself ending the year as champion. She opined that history repeats itself and that Carla Esparza just became the titleholder at 115 pounds. Jedrzejczyk notably defeated her to capture gold back in 2015.
“History likes to make a circle, and it’s happening in front of us. It’s happening. I feel like it’s meant to be, you know? I’m in the right place, the right spot, right timing, I’m going to be the champ at the end of this year. [The] perfect scenario for me is to get a victory in Singapore on June 11th, come back to the gym, go on a small holiday and get back to the gym. Then, fight at Madison Square Garden where I lost the belt a few years ago.”
Joanna Jedrzejczyk continued, “The fight between Rose and Carla showed how unpredictable this sport is and how crazy this sport is. Carla beat Rose, I beat Carla, and then Andrade beat Rose, Weili Zhang beats Andrade, how crazy it is. You know anything and everything is possible. It’s happening.”
