Joanna Jedrzejczyk: Karolina Kowalkiewicz Doesn’t Deserve a Rematch

Last weekend, the UFC made its long awaited debut in New York City with UFC 205. To celebrate this Big Apple debut, the organization stacked the card with massive fights, including a whopping three title bouts.

The first of these title bouts saw reigning strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk attempt the fourth defense of her title opposite fellow Polish star Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Though she was wobbled by Kowalkiewicz in the fourth round, the strawweight queen was dominant throughout the rest of her fight, and would ultimately leave New York City with a unanimous decision win, and her title.

In the wake of Jedrzejczyk’s win, Kowalkiewicz sought to leverage a rematch on the strength of her knockdown in the fourth round. The challenger expressed hopes that this rematch would occur in Poland.

While this idea is bound to excite fans in Poland, Jedrzejczyk herself is not keen on it, as she believes it’s an opportunity Kowalkiewicz doesn’t deserve. The champ explained her reluctance to accept a do-over with her recent opponent on the latest addition of The MMA Hour.

“No, come on,” Jedrzejczyk said of a potential rematch. “She lost the fight. It was like 10-8 every round. Maybe the fourth round she was dangerous for like 10 seconds. In [Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson’s draw], 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.”

Jedrzejczyk went on to explain that while she found Kowalkiewicz to be a tough opponent, she was far from her toughest challenge to date.

“She’s tough, but I’m a champion because I’m so humble in the gym, I’m so humble everyday,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I’m hard on myself, I learn everyday, and I’m making the right decisions 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 very tough fight from her. She was the challenger, and I know that Polish chicks are tough.”

Do you think Kowalkiewicz deserves an immediate rematch with the champ, or does she have some more work to do before she gets that chance? Sound off, PENN Nation!