Search

Joanna Jedrzejczyk retires from UFC

During a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Jedrzejczyk opened up about the thought process involved in her decision to retire. During her post-fight press conference at UFC 275, Joanna Jedrzejczyk opened up about retiring. After an impressive eight-year run in the UFC 275 promotion, which included five title defences, Joanna Jedrzejczyk decided to call it quits following her knockout loss in the second round against Zhang Weili. Jedrzejczyk, on the other hand, is adamant that she will not come back to MMA as a fighter since her wellness is of the utmost importance to her at this point in her life.

The decision to call it quits did not happen until Joanna Jedrzejczyk suffered her knockout loss. Still, during her first post-fight interview, the former UFC champ acknowledged retirement existed when she set foot inside the cage on the evening. Before UFC 275, Joanna Jedrzejczyk had, in fact, signed a new, multi-fight deal with the UFC, one she is definitely planning on fulfilling, expecting to compete at least twice per year going forward. In the two years since her retirement from the sport following her five-round war with Zhang Weili, which earned them a unanimous decision for 2020s Fight of the Year, Jedrzejczyk has admitted her return to fights has to be balanced with long-term implications.

After taking two years off, Jedrzejczyk retired from mixed martial arts in June 2022 after losing to newly-crowned strawweight champion Zhang Weili in a rematch at UFC 275. Following her strawweight victory over Michelle Waterson, Jedrzejczyk faced off with new strawweight champion Zhang Weili at UFC 248 in March 2020. Joanna Jedrzejczyk brought her A-game at Singapore Indoor Stadium at Kallang; however, that was not enough to stop the surging Weili Zhang, who dominated her in the first round, knocking her out with spinning back fists in the second. Joanna Jedrzejczyk went into her rematch against Weili Zhang at UFC 275, intending to win and move on to a title challenge for strawweight, but during training camp, a moment came when retirement crept into her thoughts.

Dana White, the UFC president, praised the now-retired fighter Jedrzejczyk; in a post-match interview, he said, “Without a doubt. One of the women who helped build women’s MMA, especially in the UFC and was always fun to watch, always came to fight. I love everything about Joanna, and I’m glad she fought and ended her career with us.” Carla Esparza, the former women’s strawweight champion, confessed to MMA Junkie that Jedrzejczyk struggled at UFC 275, owing to her two-year absence from the sport. During the post-fight interview, Jedrzejczyk said that she had a great experience in the octagon for the past 20 years, so it was time to hang up her gloves and celebrate life with her family.