Joanna Jedrzejczyk: ‘Fake’ Karolina Kowalkiewicz is tough, ‘but she’s not on my level’

It’s hard to say with fighters, whether they have legitimate reasons to be angry with their opponents, or whether finding reasons to be angry with opponents is simply the way that they create competitive spark. Is it all a front, or is there really a lot of bad blood? I imagine it’s a whole lot easier to put a beating on someone when you’ve decided that they some how deserve it.

Either way, Joanna Jedrzejczyk seems to have found the fuel for her fire with her upcoming bout against Karolina Kowalkiewicz. The UFC strawweight champion appeared on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani recently, and she laid out exactly what she’s go against her latest title challenger (transcript via MMA Fighting):

“She was super-nice, super-cute, she came to me with her coach, they hugged me, they were talking to me,” she said of Kowalkiewicz. “But…she isn’t a great person. That’s her problem. She’s a fake person.”
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“For my fight with Gadelha, we had to record some media for our sponsor and we had a photo shoot together,” Jedrzejczyk said. “She was super-nice, we were talking a lot. But after her fight with Rose she said some bad things. And that’s the reason.”
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“That I’m afraid of her and that I’m going to lose my belt,” she said. “There’s no trash talk, but she’s fake. And I’m going to prove that she’s a fake person.”

Jedrzejczyk added that while she feels Kowalkiewicz is clearly the number one contender for the title shot, she’s “not impressed” by the “Polish Princess’” in cage ability. “She’s not on my level,” Jedrzejczyk said, while also stating that she thinks that Kowalkiewicz will still make for a tough and interesting fight.

The champ also made it clear that while the Poland vs. Poland narrative has been a talking point among fans, it’s not something she’s thinking about. “She could be from Cuba and I’m still going to fight her,” Jedrzejczyk said, explaining that she views MMA as her business.

UFC 205 goes down on November 12th in Madison Square Garden. The event will be headlined by a superfight between lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez and featherweight title holder Conor McGregor. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for more news and updates.