In the following article, MMA fans can take in a prime example of how much can change in two years’ time.
Two years ago, Joanna Jędrzejczyk was coming off a loss to Zhang Weili in what is considered one of the great fights in all of MMA history. Though the outcome could have gone either way, it was ultimately not Jędrzejczyk’s night, and it was Zhang who walked away with the strawweight championship.
In the following article, Jędrzejczyk gave assurances that she was not looking to retire. However, little did the world know that she would only be one fight away from doing just that. And her opponent? The same woman she had just lost to two years ago: Zhang Weili.
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After retirement, Jędrzejczyk made an MMA News headline for sharing the one thing she promised herself for after she decided to hang up her gloves. The recent retiree most recently made our headlines for sharing who made the cut for her Mount Rushmore of WMMA.
The following article is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives.
On This Day Two Years Ago…
[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 21, 2020, 3:11 PM]
Headlines: Joanna Jędrzejczyk Squashes Retirement Rumors
Author: Jon Fuentes
Joanna Jędrzejczyk isn’t going anywhere. She loves fighting too much.
Jędrzejczyk has suffered several losses in the past few years after going undefeated for the first five years of her career. Of course, those defeats have come to the most elite of the sport; Rose Namajunas (twice), Valentina Shevchenko, and a very close split decision loss to current 115-pound champion Zhang Weili in her last outing this past March. Despite this, there has been some chatter that Jędrzejczyk could consider retirement at this point in her career.
However, the 33-year-old told the South China Morning Post that’s far from the case. She loves fighting too much to walk away now, and she still has her eyes set on gold.
“I will be fighting. I can’t stop. I won’t stop. I was thinking, ‘Maybe I’ll do one, two, three more fights,’ but why not fight every year? Even if I do it once a year or twice a year, why not do it? I love it. It doesn’t matter if I keep winning or losing or keep fighting for the title or not, I just love it,” Jędrzejczyk said.
“Being the champ again (is my goal though). I just want to give big fights to the fans, to the people, because I know my value is very big. I just want people to see that we can never stop, that we can’t give up, that we should fight for our goals and dreams.”
Joanna Jędrzejczyk remains one of the top fighters in the UFC‘s strawweight division. Her last outing with the champion could have gone either way, proving she still has what it takes to compete with the best at a championship level. One or two more wins and she could be back in the mix for the title.
“I lost my last fight, but I feel I will rock the next fight even better. The last camp was special, but I know that I can do even better this time, and I will. I can’t wait. I’m excited. (There will be) lots of pain, lots of tears, lots of blood, sacrificing myself, but it’s worth it to step into the UFC Octagon and fight for the belt,” Jędrzejczyk said.