Joanna Jedrzejczyk seems to be winning the hearts of fans and fighters. The strawweight champion exploded onto the scene when she violently dethroned Carla Esparza at UFC 185. Since then, the Pole has cemented herself as a dominant champion and continues to expand her fan base.
Jedrzejczyk, who was exposed to legions of fans tuning into watch Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm at UFC 193, defended her championship against Valérie Létourneau in the co-main event. And, according to reigning featherweight champion Jose Aldo, the Brazilian never misses a chance to watch “Joanna Champion” flaunt her talents.
“I love her,” Aldo told Brazilian media recently in Rio de Janeiro. “That’s a fight that I stopped to watch, I slept during the others. I asked them to wake me up when it was time for her to fight. I love that girl fighting, man.”
It’s expected that Jedrzejczyk will rematch Claudia Gadhela in her next title defense, after the Nova Uniao product gave Joanna her toughest test to date at UFC on FOX 13. And, despite his admiration for the Polish champion, Aldo believes his teammate will emerge victoriously.
“There’s Claudinha, or course, I cheer for her to become champion, but I’m huge fan of (Jedrzejczyk) because of her fighting style, with an excellent kickboxing,” Aldo said. “She’s growing each and every fight, so that’s someone I stop to watch.”
“First of all, train hard, avoid her striking,” he said of how Gadelha can beat Jedrzejczyk in a rematch, after losing the first contest in a close decision. “That girl hits like a man, it hurts. And she’s fast. She has the same name of my daughter, so she’s a champion, brother. Joanna is amazing. But I think it’s training.
“She has to train hard. I can’t talk about it because it’s our thing so we have to tell her when she’s here, but she knows. She knows, and you know she has to use her grappling because there’s where she has a big possibility of becoming champion.”
Jose Aldo will take on Conor McGregor in a featherweight title unification bout at the highly anticipated UFC 194 PPV on December 12th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
(Transcripts via MMAFighting.com)
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