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https://scmp.com/sport/martial-arts/mixed-martial-arts/article/3074227/ufc-248-joanna-jedrzejczyk-one-baddest-says Mixed Martial Arts
UFC 248: Joanna Jedrzejczyk is ‘one of the baddest’ says Dana White – ‘she comes to fight’
- Former champion plays her part in one of greatest fights in history, battling on despite massive hematoma on forehead
- ‘We’re incredibly lucky to have her, she’s an amazing human being,’ says UFC president White
Joanna Jedrzejczyk at the end of her split decision loss to Zhang Weili at UFC 248. Photos: AFP
Joanna Jedrzejczyk might have been beaten almost beyond recognition by Zhang Weili in their UFC strawweight classic on Saturday night but the Polish fighter has emerged from the battle with her reputation as a warrior intact.
“Joanna, she comes to fight,” UFC boss Dana White said at the post-fight press conference. “She’s incredibly talented. She comes to win, to hurt you, to bust you up and she’s one of the baddest to ever do it.”
The bout had ended in a split decision to the 30-year-old Chinese champion after 25 minutes of mayhem. Jedrzejczyk’s reputation – as a former strawweight champ, with five title defences and membership in the sport’s hall of fame already assured – has been built on her ability to mess her opponents up inside the cage, after trying to mess with their minds beforehand.
The 32-year-old threw 186 strikes at Zhang, who countered with 165 of her own, leaning mostly on her huge right hand to do the damage. To put that intensity into some kind of perspective, the last time Jedrzejczyk was in a five-round title fight she threw 78 to Valentina Shevchenko’s 89 in losing their flyweight title clash.
The effects of all that action were evident post-fight, with a massive hematoma distorting Jedrzejczyk’s features while Zhang’s face was red and raw. The good news on Sunday that both had left hospital after overnight observation and had been given the all-clear by medical staff.
Jedrzejczyk had tried to get under Zhang’s skin during pre-fight events but in the aftermath of their battle the Chinese champ was quick to pay her respects to a fighter who had pushed her to the limits of endurance.
“I respect each of my opponents,” Zhang posted via her Instagram account. “Other people's failure will not make me happy. My confidence is built on my training and my team. @joannajedrzejczyk is a very powerful martial artist. In the end the octagon does not need garbage, we worked together and the battle was great.”
White said he’d expected a fight for the ages coming in to Las Vegas.
“I knew that fight was gonna be ridiculous,” White said. “Two incredibly talented savages who wanted that belt more than anything. I didn’t know if there would be a knockout or a submission but I was begging people to watch this fight.”
White said he would wait for both fighters to rest and recover before plotting the next moves in their career, but a sequel to Saturday will no doubt loom somewhere off in the distance.
Jedrzejczyk had revealed during the pre-fight media day that it was really until she lost the strawweight title that fans started to see her human side – “That I’m not a monster,” was how she put it. They’ll have even more respect for her now.
“I’m incredibly lucky. She’s an amazing human being,” White said of Jedrzejczyk. “If you look at her evolution since she’s come to the UFC. Look at her on social media. She’s incredible.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk hangs on to Zhang Weili during their UFC 248 war.
“You can tell when you watch Joanna and what she’s doing. She enjoys herself, she’s having fun. She got another title shot, came in dead serious, got in phenomenal shape, made the weight easy, played the mind games like a pro, did everything she could.
“We’re incredibly lucky to have someone like her. [She] built that division, started it, after all these years can get me that excited for a fight.”