Fresh off successfully defending her title against Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 205, Joanna Jedrzejczyk has shot down any talk about a rematch with her Polish rival.
The strawweight champion kept her unbeaten streak intact after a dominant 25-minute fight and doesn’t believe the fight was close enough, or her challenger did enough, to warrant an immediate rematch.
Speaking on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour, she made comparisons to one of the other title fights on the main card and quashed Kowalkiewicz’s efforts to secure a rematch in Poland.
“No, come on,” Jedrzejczyk said. “She lost the fight. It was like 10-8 every round. Maybe the fourth round she was dangerous for like 10 seconds. In Woodley and Thompson, Thompson deserved the rematch, you know, the fight was so close. But come on, she can’t talk about the rematch. I heard she was running to Dana [White] right after the fight and asking for the rematch, but come on, come on.”
Many believed Kowalkiewicz would prove to be the toughest test of Jedrzejczyk’s career but the champ added previous opponents put up a tougher challenge. She also said the only amount of time her Kowalkiewicz produced an element of danger amounted to a mere matter of seconds.
“She’s tough, but I’m a champion because I’m so humble in the gym, I’m so humble every day,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I’m hard on myself, I learn every day, and I’m making the right decision in my life and fighting career. Karolina was tough. I didn’t disrespect her before the fight. I had really tough fights with Claudia Gadelha, Valerie Letourneau, so it wasn’t the toughest fight for me.
“I was so dominant in this fight, I felt so great, I felt like I could do more, but I did just enough. Okay, she dropped me in the fourth round, but that’s all, so she was just dangerous for like 15 seconds, that’s all. I felt great, and I’m good. She was not the toughest, but I expected a very tough fight from her. She was the challenger and I know that Polish chicks are tough.”
While it remains to be seen who the UFC match up for Jedrzejczyk next, she did give a timeline, looking to hopefully make her return to the Octagon in the second quarter of 2017.
“Maybe April, maybe May,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I don’t know. After Christmas, I have to sit down and talk to the UFC and figure out when they want me to fight, and when I want to fight.”
