Media Joanna Jedrzejczyk predicts she'll dethrone Carla Esparza for a second time after UFC 275

Kyojiro Kagenuma said:
No one thinks Carla is the best in the world. The stars aligned perfectly for her to recapture the championship. Favorable matchup after Favorable matchup, Getting close debatable decisions over and over, and then wins the title in the least impressive championship win ever that should've been a draw.

The entire top ten has a good chance at beating her, and Andrade, Weili, and Joanna would all demolish her.

It's crazy she's the champ.
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For my wedding I got a bread maker and a toaster oven...

Carla got the straw weight UFC belt.
 
KazDibiase said:


Joanna Jedrzejczyk thinks history is going to repeat itself against Carla Esparza.

After Esparza (19-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) claimed the UFC strawweight title from Rose Namajunas at UFC 274 this past weekend in a heavily criticized split decision, Jedrzejczyk (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) appears perfectly posed to get a chance to fight for the belt.

First, of course, she has to get through her rematch with Zhang Weili at UFC 275 on June 9, which will be no easy task. Jedrzejczyk is confident she will get it done, though, and go on to challenge Esparza.

It’s a familiar situation, because Jedrzejczyk successfully went through it before. After Esparza won the inaugural 115-pound belt from Namajunas in December 2014, her reign would quickly come to an end just a few months later courtesy of a lopsided TKO win for Jedrzejczyk.



Jedrzejczyk couldn’t explain why Esparza and Namajunas put on such a dud, but not she sees the new champ as a juicy target.

“I don’t know what happened, but when you feel – that first round wasn’t good. The second wasn’t, and sometimes you have to do something to get the victory,” Jedrzejczyk told reporters on Monday’s UFC 275 media day. “Even paying a big price. But I don’t know what happened. Til the end of the fight I thought Rose got it, but no. Like Carla, I really thought she was going to look better. I was like, ‘This girl is going to look better. She has so many win streak.’ But for me, she looked the same as when we fought for the belt seven years ago in Dallas. And history likes to make a circle. And soon (I’m) to be the champ.”

Jedrzejczyk hasn’t fought in more than two years. The former longtime UFC titleholder last competed in March 2020 when she had a Fight of the Year war with Weili at UFC 248, losing by unanimous decision.

The pair are set to run it back in the featured bout of UFC 275, which takes place at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore and airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

Despite the long break from competition, Jedrzejczyk said she’s motivated to be back and is driven to get revenge over Weili before another rematch with Esparza that would lead to UFC gold.

“Before I accept the fight with Weili Zhang, I knew that I was going to fight for the belt,” Jedrzejczyk said. “After the first fight with Weili Zhang, I knew that I was going to be the next one in line. Sometimes it takes time and other girls have to fight for the belt as well and I Just wanted to be back. Here we go, we have a big fight. Fighting Weili Zhang for the second time is a big motivation for the me because I can be better every single day.”

https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2022...-dethrone-carla-esparza-title-for-second-time
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Honestly I HOPE Joanna does.

At least Joanna always has exciting fights, she is a great striker and that (to me) is the basis for a real fighter : stand up striking.

I just find Esparza abominably tedious in her style and her incessant "wait wait wait....shoot for a takedown". That's her whole game and she is good at it, yup, but it's dull and unenjoyable.

Welcome back Joanna...
 
Sweater of AV said:
I would put Rodriguez there before Dern. Also, there are five lionesses.
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Rodriguez already lost to Carla. Rodriguez style is perfect for her. Stand up fighter with poor takedown defense and no ground game.

Dern I think would be a pretty bad matchup for Carla.
 
13Seconds said:
Why-do-lions-hunt-in-pride.jpeg


The male lion is Dana White. The 4 female lions are Weili, Joanna, Andrade and Dern. Poor thing in the middle is the champ
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The "thing" is an African buffalo
 
Kyojiro Kagenuma said:
Rodriguez already lost to Carla. Rodriguez style is perfect for her. Stand up fighter with poor takedown defense and no ground game.

Dern I think would be a pretty bad matchup for Carla.
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I feel like Rodriguez has improved a fair bit since then but maybe not. Stylistically, Dern-Esparza would definitely be more interesting.
 
Sweater of AV said:
I feel like Rodriguez has improved a fair bit since then but maybe not. Stylistically, Dern-Esparza would definitely be more interesting.
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She hasn't shown any improvement in her ground game to me. That said she can throw hands with the best of them.

That's why I wanna see her and Rose fight. Guaranteed fireworks
 
Kyojiro Kagenuma said:
She hasn't shown any improvement in her ground game to me. That said she can throw hands with the best of them.

That's why I wanna see her and Rose fight. Guaranteed fireworks
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Yeah that's probably true. I thought she looked better against Dern but it's likely not much of a change.
 
Dana said that the winner of this one is likely the next title challenger. What about Marina though? I know Carla just fought and is getting married, but she took 0 damage. Book it 3 months from now and let's keep the ball rolling.
 
Ace70 V2 said:
Dana said that the winner of this one is likely the next title challenger. What about Marina though? I know Carla just fought and is getting married, but she took 0 damage. Book it 3 months from now and let's keep the ball rolling.
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Carla already beat Marina not so long ago.
 
Kyojiro Kagenuma said:
Carla already beat Marina not so long ago.
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2 years ago by split decision. I feel like she deserves it more than either of those 2. Joanna has been chilling for the past 2 years while Zhang lost a title shot in her last fight.
 
Ace70 V2 said:
2 years ago by split decision. I feel like she deserves it more than either of those 2. Joanna has been chilling for the past 2 years while Zhang lost a title shot in her last fight.
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It's true but that's the excuse they'll use.

If Rose got the decision Marina would be next no question. Now Marina will likely have to fight Rose in a non title bout, which she'll most likely lose.
 
Both Joanna and Weili would likely beat her, and badly. I don’t understand why Esparza is Rose’s kryptonite. I bet Rose has the belt back in less than 5 fights.
 
chinarice said:
There is no doubt in my mind Joanna beats that Carla Esparza that shows up, unless Joanna has completely fallen off.
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That is the thing though. I’m not sure that JJ the killer still exists
 
TempleoftheDog said:
Did you miss their first fight? Joanna has really good TDD (exponentially better than Rose), and stuffed Carla repeatedly until she lit her up on the feet.
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And when she fought Claudia who gave her a much tougher fight(s),you can see Joanna has a wide array of anti wrestling attacks...and I can say confidently that if Joanna starts smashing her with elbows as soon as she gets close, Carla will wilt.
 
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