UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who is quickly emerging as one of the most dominant champions in the UFC, has apparently signed the bout agreement for her next title defense. The undefeated Polish champ took to Twitter to make this announcement early on Friday morning.
https://twitter.com/joannamma/status/779309827017375745
In her announcement, Jedrzejczyk doesn’t name the opponent for her next bout. Unless the UFC throws us a serious curve ball, however, that opponent will be another undefeated Pole in Karolina Kowalkiewicz.
Kowalkiewicz (10-0) has carved out her number-one-contender status with three straight wins in the UFC. First, she blew through Canada’s Randa Markos in her UFC debut. Next, she out-gunned Heather Jo Clark in her sophomore UFC appearance. Finally and most recently, she scored a split-decision win over fellow contender Rose Namajunas, establishing herself as the clear cut choice for the next strawweight title shot in the process.
Jedrzejczyk (12-0), meanwhile, has gone 6-0 in the UFC. She began her Octagon run with a pair of decision wins over Juliana Lima and Claudia Gadelha. In her next outing, she’d steal the title from inaugural strawweight champion Carla Esparza with a brutal TKO victory. With the title firmly wrapped around her waist, Jedrzejczyk would then make successful defenses against top competition in Jessica Penne, Valerie Letourneau, before moving to 2-0 against Gadelha in her third and most recent defense.
While the opponent for Jedrzejczyk’s next title defense seems quite obvious, the date and location of that defense is not as clear.
The most obvious choice would seem to be UFC 205, which is scheduled for November 12 inside New York City’s hallowed Madison Square Garden. The card, which will mark the UFC’s NYC debut, is still a little short on big fights, and a strawweight title fight would add a good deal of muscle to the lineup. Furthermore, Jedrzejczyk’s signing this bout agreement would line up perfectly with UFC President Dana White’s plans to announce the card’s full lineup on Tuesday.
UFC 205 is not the only choice for Jedrzejczyk’s next defense, however. The champ could also find herself fighting at UFC 206, which is scheduled for December 10 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Do you think it will be New York City or Toronto that gets Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s next fight? Sound off, PENN nation!