Joanna Jedrzejczyk admits she has taken notice of Weili Zhang’s rise.
Zhang could be ignored no longer after her quick and dominating performance over Jessica Andrade. Zhang became the first UFC champion out of China with her 42-second TKO victory back in August. Fight fans have been wondering who Zhang will make her first title defense against next and perhaps the winner of Jedrzejczyk vs. Michelle Waterson will answer that question.
Jedrzejczyk Has Praise For Zhang
Following an open workout session, Jedrzejczyk spoke to reporters. The former strawweight queen had some kind words for Zhang (via MMAJunkie.com).
“Yes, I’m very impressed with the new strawweight champ, and I said that she was going to win in the first round with Jessica Andrade,” Jedrzejczyk told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN+ 19 open workouts. “She’s a very good fighter and in the UFC, maybe the strawweight division is the lightest division in the UFC, but definitely this division gets lots of attention and brings lots of fireworks with every fight.”
This Saturday night (Oct. 12), Jedrzejczyk and Waterson will do battle in the main event of UFC Tampa. While nothing has been officially guaranteed, this bout could very well serve as a number one contender bout with Rose Namajunas’ status up in the air and Tatiana Suarez recovering from an injury.
