In a couple of months, Rose Namajunas will march into the Octagon again to see if she can beat former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk back-to-back at UFC 223. Teammate and friend Justin Gaethje thinks it’s as good as wrapped up already. Citing difficulties with her weight cut, Jedrzejczyk says things will be different this time in the rematch. Gaethje thinks that the way Namajunas won, didn’t have anything to do with the weight cut, which shouldn’t be an excuse anyway.
“I think [Joanna Jedrzejczyk]’s weak-minded for [talking about her drastic weight cut complications], even if it is true. It’s her own business. And no matter what, it could be true to the core and you could have proof, who’s going to [care]? Like, I’m not going to support you. Okay, whose fault was it? At the end of the day, whose fault was it? It was your fault. Do you have a scale at your house? Then you get to step on the scale every single morning, just like every single one of us do. We worry about our weight the whole camp, and I’ve never had a nutritionist help me in my entire life. […] I made weight in college eating McDonald’s every day. It’s willpower. You either f-cking do it or you don’t do it.”
THUG ROSE! 🏆 @RoseNamajunas defends her title vs Jedrzejczyk in Brooklyn.
Tickets on sale Friday. #UFC223 pic.twitter.com/fynaPkTtwx
— UFC (@ufc) February 7, 2018
“It’s a fight. [Jedrzejczyk] is one of the highest-level fighters in that weight class in the world. Anybody in the top-five can beat each other on any given night in this sport. So, I think she has a possibility [to win], but I don’t think — she can’t just go and change her whole [style]. She can’t change the way her feet move. And Rose [Namajunas] beat her because of the way her feet move, because she could time the way her feet move and Rose is going to do the same thing with her feet. She’ll get her reaching, and then she’ll get her overreaching, then she’ll come in while she’s overreaching and capitalize. There’s no other way for it to go. […] I am excited to see Rose fight the best Joanna whenever she doesn’t f-ck up and f-ck her weight cut up.” — Justin Gaethje speaking to MMA Fighting.
While we all have no idea what Joanna Jedrzejczyk was going through – weight cut or otherwise – during the lead up to UFC 217. It may have affected her performance and it may have not, either way she has a chance for redemption and Rose Namajunas has he shot to prove it to any naysayers that her finish of the dominant former champ wasn’t because of anything but her own hard work. UFC 223 is still awhile away on April 7th, headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson’s highly anticipated fight.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/13/2018.