Joanna Jędrzejczyk is without a doubt one of the scariest female fighters to have ever reigned over a UFC Women’s division. The self pronounced Boogie woman reigned supreme over the Strawweight division for four years beating an impressive list of names in multiple title defenses. Jędrzejczyk is set to come back to the UFC Octagon for the first time since she fought Zhang Weili before the Pandemic and sustained one of the most gruesome head injuries mma fans have ever seen.
Jędrzejczyk was born August 18, 1987 in Olsztyn, Poland. She started her journey into martial arts when she was 16 after discovering Muay Thai. She’d start taking Muay Thai classes with hopes to compete in the art. She’d do just that winning about 60 Muay Thai and Kickboxing matches over a ten year span. During this span Jędrzejczyk would win an impressive five world titles including the WKN World Championship, J Girls Championship, WBKF Championship, WKF European Championship, and the WMC Championship. She’d soon switch her focus to Mixed Martial Arts.
Jędrzejczyk would make her MMA debut against Sylwia Juśkiewicz in May of 2012 she’d win by Unanimous Decision. She’d then go face Lily Kazak in December of 2012 winning by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke.) Jędrzejczyk would then face Kate Jackson winning by TKO (doctor stoppage.) She’d face three more fighters in smaller promotions, she’d beat all of these fighters and would get the call to fight for the UFC.
Jędrzejczyk would make her UFC debut against Juliana Lima winning by Unanimous Decision. From there she’d face Cláudia Gadelha winning in a controversial Split Decision. This would be a title eliminator and in her next bout she’d fight Carla Esparza for the UFC Women’s Strawweight title winning by TKO (Punches.) She’d make her first two successful title defenses against Jessica Penne and Valérie Létourneau.
Jędrzejczyk would then go on to Coach The Ultimate Fighter against heated rival Cláudia Gadelha the two would face each other at the conclusion of the Season with Jędrzejczyk winning the second meeting. She defended the belt successfully two more times against Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Jéssica Andrade before losing the belt to Rose Namajunas at UFC 217. Jędrzejczyk would then face Namajunas again. She’d then face Tecia Torres winning by Unanimous Decision. She’d then move up to fight for the vacant Flyweight Title losing by Unanimous decision. She’d win her next fight against Michelle Waterson before losing a Split Decision to Zhang Weili at UFC 248 for the Strawweight title.
We hope Jędrzejczyk makes a successful return to the UFC Octagon sometime soon!
MMA Aficionado 