Jedrzejczyk: I want to protect younger fighters from extreme weight cuts
Joanna Jedrzejczyk: “I would like to … to protect other fighters; younger fighters. Just to protect them. There is no price on our lives, so we must be serious with this.”
Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour and discussed the career-crushing effects of an extreme weight cut. She drew parallels between the cut before her belt-losing performance vs. Rose Namajunas at UFC 217, and Ronda Rousey’s cut before she lost her title to Holly Holm at UFC 193. She characterized the impacts as a “brain freeze.”
I always wanted to talk to Ronda about how she felt the night before that night that she lost to Holly Holm,” said Jedrzejczyk, as transcribed by Peter Carroll for MMA Fighting. Actually, we have one agent [in common] and I spoke to him and told him that my legs went numb and that I felt a bit groggy or something like this. The funny thing is Ronda felt the same way; she had a terrible weight cut before Holly Holm.
I would like to sit with her and give an interview for people and to protect other fighters; younger fighters. Just to protect them. There is no price on our lives, so we must be serious with this.
The funny thing is, people don’t believe that your brain can be frozen, but the weight cut can change the game. It can and that’s the worse thing. It can [happen] and this is what happened to me and Ronda. We paid the price for the weight cuts and that’s the thing.”
Jedrzejczyk also had a reply to the critics.
They didn’t go through the weight cut, so they don’t understand, she said, taking aim at her critics. They don’t understand what we had to go through, but one day I will explain to all of them.
The culture of extreme weight cutting is the most dangerous regulatory issue facing mixed martial arts. You can’t make combat sports safe; MMA is hurting game. But you can cure the crazy, dangerous situation we are in. Andy Foster, executive director of the California State Athletic Commission has crafted a cure – a 10 Point Plan. It works. The ABC medical committee supports it. The ABC has adopted it. The UFC supports it and will continue to adopt further parts of it.
Bafflingly, most athletic commissions are apparently waiting for a high profile death, unconvinced by the lesser known deaths, and the endless series of hospitalizations and other major health problems. And somewhere down the line in terms of importance, fighters cannot fight to the best of their ability after and extreme cut, robbing fans of the greatest fights, and sometimes, fighters of their titles, and the millions of dollars that go with it.
