Joanna Jedrzejczyk Says She’ll Finish Karolina Kowalkiewicz Inside Three Rounds at UFC 205

UFC 205, which marks the Octagon’s long-awaited debut in New York City, New York, is arguably the finest fight card ever assembled by the organization. Much of its strength can be attributed to the three title fights that sit atop the pay-per-view.

The biggest of these title fights, of course, is the main event, which will see featherweight champion Conor McGregor challenge lightweight king Eddie Alvarez in an effort to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold two belts in tandem.

Though the other two title fights on the card aren’t generating quite the same hype as the main event, they’re also extremely exciting.

One of these title fights will see Tyron Woodley defend his welterweight crown against streaking contender Stephen Thompson. The other will pair dynamic strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk with Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Both strawweights hail from Poland, and neither has lost as a professional mixed martial artist. They also don’t appear to be especially fond of each other.

In advance of this compelling strawweight showdown, Jedrzejczyk has offered up a fairly bold prediction as to how the action will unfold. In the most recent episode of Australia’s Submission Radio, the strawweight queen claimed that she’ll put her Polish rival away inside the first three rounds.

“I will mix [in] a little bit of the fight with Jessica Penne and she’s going to get enough punches and kicks to the head,” Jedrzejczyk explained. “Then I will take a little bit of the fight with Carla Esparza. She will try to take me down because she will have had enough of the punches. Then I will finish her on the ground with a maximum of round three.” 

Despite this confidence, Jedrzejczyk was fairly complimentary of her opponent on the show.

“She’s taken big steps in her fighting career,” she said. “She’s a UFC fighter, she’s gone 3-0 in the UFC so she’s doing pretty well. She’s very tough physically and mentally. Her cardio is on point so like I said, it’s going to be a really, really good fight.”

She also expects Kowalkiewicz to enter the bout with a sound game plan – though she doesn’t expect her to stick to it.

“She says that she has a good plan for me and that Claudia Gadelha didn’t have this plan,” Jedrzejczyk said. 

“The thing is though, we all have these kind of plans until the first punch,” she continued. “All of my opponents have had some plans, Karolina has some plans for our upcoming fight, but the thing is I’m a different fighter. I’m a really tough fighter on the night of the fight – I’m like the person from the hood. Until the first punch she might have some game plan, but after that, not anymore.”

Finally, Jedrzejczyk added that the most important thing for her is to win impressively on this long-awaited New York City card – a card she was dying to be a part of.

“I spoke to Dana [White] on August 1, so it was just three weeks after my fight with Claudia Gadelha,” she said. “The thing was, Dana said he wanted me to fight in Poland and that they wanted to make a UFC show in Poland – they wanted me to face Karolina in Poland. I was like ‘Dana please I want to fight in New York,’ and he did that. I am so thankful to him because I know that so many fighters wanted to be on this card.” 

“This fight is very big for me,” the strawweight champ continued. “I don’t want to just win; I want to win so badly. Even more than with Claudia Gadelha.”

Do you think Jedrzejczyk will deliver on her prediction and finish inside 3 rounds? Or is she in for a tougher fight than she expects? Sound off, PENN nation!