Former women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk suffered her second career loss on Saturday in the UFC 223 co-main event. Both of 30-year-old’s defeats have been to the same fighter, Rose Namajunas.
Jedrzejczyk held the women’s 115-pound belt from March 2015 until November 2017 and successfully defended it five consecutive times. Namajunas shocked the world by knocking out Jedrzejczyk in the first round at UFC 217. Considering Jedrzejczyk’s title reign and dominance over the division, she was granted an immediate rematch.
With redmentpion on her mind, Jedrzejczyk stepped into the octagon inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, better prepared and more focused than her first fight with Namajunas.
As the fight played out over five rounds, Jedrzejczyk felt as if she were winning and was shocked when the scorecards were read. All three judges scored the rematch 49-46 for Namajunas.
“When I heard Bruce Buffer saying the numbers of how the judges scored the card, I was like, okay. I expected that I was going to win by split decision, but when I heard the difference, I was like, okay, we’ve got the win easy, even said my coaches. So it was a very big surprise, and the numbers don’t lie. 142 to 84 and landed 132 strikes from me and 83 from Rose. That’s the answer. That’s the answer,” said Jedrzejczyk during the event’s post-fight press conference.
“I felt like I was winning the fight. I felt like I was winning the fight,” she said. “The numbers don’t lie. The significant strikes are telling the truth.”
