Carla Esparza says Joanna Jedrzejczyk rematch “would be a much different fight”

Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza says that a Joanna Jedrzejczyk rematch “would be a much different fight.”

Esparza defeated Yan Xiaonan earlier this year by TKO in one of the best performances of her UFC career to date. The former champ is now hoping the UFC gives her a title shot against UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas — who Esparza previously defeated to become the UFC’s first-ever 115lbs women’s champ — but that is no sure thing. UFC president Dana White has hinted that the promotion is instead looking at a potential matchup for the title between Namajunas and Marina Rodriguez instead, which would leave Esparza on the sidelines without a fight. However, she says she would fight Jedrzejczyk.

Speaking to MMAFighting.com in a recent interview, Esparza admitted that she is excited about the prospects of a rematch with Jedrzejczyk. Remember, these two fought back in 2015 and Jedrzejczyk defeated Esparza by TKO to take the title. Seven years later and we might just see these two fight each other again, only this time there will no title on the line.

“I think at some point in my career, I’ve never actually had a rematch with anybody let alone coming off a loss,” Esparza said. “I think I’m a very different fighter from when that fight happened. I definitely at some point would like to fight her again. I think it would be a much different fight.”

It will be interesting to see what the UFC decides to do with both Esparza and Jedrzejczyk next. On paper, it does appear that Esparza has done everything she can to get a title shot. However, it certainly does seem  the UFC appears to favor the Rodriguez title shot instead.

Do you want to see the rematch between Carla Esparza and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and who do you think would win this fight the second time around?