16-4
Retired Legend

Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Joanna Champion
Weight Class
Strawweight
Record
16-4
Hometown
Olsztyn, Poland
Height
5'6"
Reach
65"
Stance
Southpaw
Age
38
Style
Muay Thai
Overview

THE FIGHTER

Joanna Jedrzejczyk arrived in the UFC in 2014 as a Muay Thai world champion and proceeded to run through the entire strawweight division with a technical precision and a relentless work rate that the division had never seen. She won the title from Carla Esparza in 2015 and defended it five consecutive times, which remains one of the most dominant single-division championship runs in women's MMA history. She did not just win these fights — she dominated them systematically and convincingly.

Her Muay Thai was the foundation: footwork, timing, the high kick that she threw off feints, body work, elbows in the clinch. But beyond the technical package, Joanna fought with a ferocity that felt personal. She talked constantly, in the cage, at press conferences, during weigh-ins, and she backed every word up. The act was real because the skills were real.

She fought Zhang Weili twice in back-to-back all-time classic wars, losing both but competing at a level that earned her permanent respect. She announced her retirement in 2023 after surgery on a hand that had been damaged in the first Weili fight. Her place in the history of the sport is secure — she was, for two years, the best women's fighter in the world not named Amanda Nunes.

Career

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

01
UFC Strawweight Champion 2015-2017
02
Five consecutive title defenses — strawweight record
03
Multiple-time Muay Thai world champion
04
UFC Hall of Fame inductee (2024)
05
Two iconic wars with Zhang Weili, widely considered all-time classics
Technique

SIGNATURE MOVES

Left high kick off jab feint
Right teep to reset range
Left elbow in the clinch
High volume combination on the outside
Right body kick to slow opponents
Wins

BIGGEST WINS

Carla Esparza — TKO R1 (2015)
Claudia Gadelha — Dec x2 (2016, 2017)
Karolina Kowalkiewicz — Dec (2016)
Valerie Letourneau — TKO R2 (2015)
Mom's Take

Joanna is the mom who brings homemade food to every event, tells you exactly what is wrong with the school policy in the most detailed possible terms, and is always right. Exhausting. Brilliant. Absolutely correct.

Also at Strawweight
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