Jedrzejczyk: I want to be Rousey in strawweight
Joanna Jedrzejczyk: “I follow Ronda. I am big fan of her. She is simply the best for me. But I want to be Ronda Rousey in the strawweight division.”
Saturday night in Berlin, UFC strawweight champion Joanna ‘Champion’ Jedrzejczyk made a fan of pretty much the entire sport, including UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
Ronda Rousey @RondaRousey
WOW!!!!! @joannamma such a badass, a real fighter’s fighter, couldn’t respect her more!!!! #WhosNext!?!?
The respect is mutual.
“I follow Ronda,” said Jedrzejczyk post-fight, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting.com. “I am big fan of her. She is simply the best for me. But I want to be Ronda Rousey in the strawweight division.”
“Five minutes ago, I was crying in the restroom because Dana called me and I just imagine how big this year was for me.”
“I was listening to my corner, to my trainers. They say that I should take it easy, just throw a few punches, one by one. Not like an extra eight or 10. I did what they said and it was the key to the success. So, I’m very happy.”
Saturday was Jedrzejczyk’s fourth UFC fight in under a year, and her third fight in seven months. While Rousey’s fights are almost impossibly short and final, Jedrzejczyk’s can be long and in this case almost painfully bloody. While Rousey is arguably the most prominent fighter in the sport, Joanna Champion’s star is only beginning to rise, but it is rising fast and bright.