Former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk is ready to return to the title picture and not take a tune-up fight for her 2022 debut.
Jędrzejczyk has been inactive since UFC 248 in early 2020 when she lost in a split decision to then-strawweight champion Zhang Weili. Before that, she had won two of her previous three to get back into the thick of things in the strawweight division.
Some fans may believe that the two-year layoff that Jędrzejczyk has taken from the Octagon may be to her detriment. But she remains as poised and confident as ever ahead of her planned return to the cage later this year.
During a recent interview with MMA journalist Helen Yee, Jędrzejczyk explained why she doesn’t see a point in taking a fight against a less experienced opponent.
“People are like, ‘Oh, you should get an easy fight.’ There’s no easy fights in the UFC, especially this whole sport,” Jędrzejczyk said. “And the strawweight division, the women’s division is growing up. So the fight is a pleasure. And the hardest part is done so many weeks before, and it’s the training. So I never train easy. I always train hard…so I prefer to get the big fight and the money fight, and (I’m) patiently waiting, preparing here. And I will just be getting stronger and better.”
As for who Jędrzejczyk will face in her Octagon return, that remains unclear. Jędrzejczyk recently claimed that she had been offered a world title fight but opted not to sit out for the required time.
A rematch with Zhang Weili would certainly make sense for both women. Following her win over Jędrzejczyk, Weili went on to lose back-to-back fights to Rose Namajunas in 2021.
Who do you want to see Joanna Jędrzejczyk fight in her return to the cage?
