Joanna Jedrzejczyk says life is “better than before” despite losing title

Back in November, in the first of three title fights on the UFC 217 bill, Joanna Jedrzejczyk lost the UFC strawweight title to Rose Namajunas, succumbing to a first-round knockout. While this emphatic loss marked the end of her longstanding title reign, Jedrzejczyk seems to have taken it in stride. In fact, she says her life is better than it was before she lost the title.

“Life has been great, better than before,” Jedrzejczyk told Jim Edwards of MMANytt. “After my last fight my life just got better. I have honest people – I’m surrounded by good and honest people and life is good. I know the value of my life, my family, my friends and the real people around me unlike before.”

“It’s great,” she continued. “I’ve been training at American Top Team as always with Mike Brown, ‘Katel’ Kublis, Phil Daru my strength and conditioning coach, Dyah Davis my boxing coach, but the whole of ATT is involved in my preparations before my title fight with Rose Namajunas.”

While Jedrzejczyk seems to have adapted well to life without the straweweight belt, she’s hellbent on reclaiming it in her upcoming rematch with Rose Namajunas, which co-headlines UFC 223 on April 7.

Ahead of this rematch, the former champ has put increased focus on strategy, and part of that strategy is keeping her preparations secret. That’s why we haven’t seen as much of her training footage on social media.

“I’m not posting any videos,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I’m not keeping everything top secret, but I move different and I feel different and I put on great work.”

“I cannot say more about training but we have a good plan and my body will be 100-percent to show up and takeover at UFC 223.”

Do you think Joanna Jedrzejczyk can reclaim the UFC women’s strawweight title at UFC 223?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/27/2018.