Joanna Jedrzejczyk declines March fight offer, looking to rest for ‘a bit’

By Drake Riggs - January 17, 2019

When it comes to the 115-pound strawweight division, no one has accomplished more than Poland’s Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk

After racking up an impressive five consecutive title defenses, Jedrzejczyk would finally meet her match after going 14-0 in her MMA career.

Dropping her title in a surprise upset to Rose Namajunas at UFC 217, Jedrzejczyk would get an immediate rematch vs Namajunas at UFC 223 just a few months after. Unfortunately for the former strawweight queen, she would lose once again.

Going on to rebound in her first non-title bout in several years against Tecia Torres at UFC on Fox 30, Jedrzejczyk would pick up a clear unanimous decision win. Thus leading to her getting back in the title hunt… But not at 115-pounds.

With the newly introduced flyweight division to the UFC, things were still shaking out among the fighters. Especially after the inaugural champion Nicco Montano’s stripping following UFC 228.

Because of that, we wound up getting some mix-ups here and there before we were left with Jedrzejczyk taking on her old Muay Thai foe, Valentina ‘Bullet’ Shevchenko.

The fight between Shevchenko and Jedrzejczyk acted as the second female flyweight title bout in UFC history and it saw Jedrzejczyk lose her second career title fight.

Now the former champion is left in somewhat of an odd position as she has recent definitive losses to both champions in the two divisions that she has as options. And having shown interest in returning to 115-pounds after her flyweight return vs Shevchenko, it’s still unknown as to what she’ll do next.

But for the time being, Jedrzejczyk will be taking some time off despite the UFC not wanting her to.

“I received a fight offer for March, but I turned it down. For now on, I just want to rest a bit, have a nice time with my family and eat well.” Jedrzejcyzk told WezloFM.

Of the possible options for who Jedrzejczyk may have been offered, rising undefeated contender Tatiana Suarez seems like the most logical option as she recently said that she was turned down by the Pole.

Also, Jedrzejczyk may have made an interesting hint at a next move as she deleted the following image from her Instagram.

PhotoCred: LowKick MMA

It’s just speculation, of course, but when there’s smoke… There’s usually fire.

What do you think will be next for the former strawweight champion?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/17/2019