UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk surprised a lot of fans when she dethroned Carla Esparza in dominating fashion.

Now, the Polish fighter is preparing for her first title defense against Jessica Penna. Jedrzejczyk recently appeared on Submission Radio and talked about her career. She revealed the reasons she got into combat sports, saying that at first it was just for health and appearance reasons.

“I was like 10 kilos (22 pounds) more heavy than now. So I didn’t feel good, you know? I was at high school at that time, so I wanted to be a good looking girl.”

“I was 16, I just wanted to do something in my life. I wanted to be healthy, I wanted to lose some weight and I went for my first training. In the beginning I didn’t know what Muay Thai meant. You know? But I liked it so much, and after six months of training I had my first competition in Poland. I won, and after that I knew that I wanted to do it.”

“Now I’m healthy, I’m in shape and I’m happy because I finished physical education as well. So I could be a teacher, a personal trainer, but yeah I’m a professional athlete.”

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