Joanna Jedrzejczyk set a UFC title fight record eight years ago today.
Long before her rival Zhang Weili came along, the UFC Hall of Famer cemented herself as the greatest strawweight of all time with six-straight title fight wins.
Poland’s Jedrzejczyk went undefeated for five years and defended her belt twice a year after knocking out inaugural champion Carla Esparza in 2015.
Win or lose, Jedrzejczyk consistently fought the best in the world from Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili (both twice) to pound-for-pound queen Valentina Shevchenko a weight class above.
In the prime of her career, a 29-year-old Jedrzejczyk won her final title fight against one of the scariest finishers the women’s divisions have ever seen, a future champion in Jessica Andrade.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk set significant strike record vs. Jessica Andrade
On May 13, 2017, Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s last successful title defense took place at UFC 211 in Dallas, Texas – the same place she won the title at UFC 185.
Jedrzejczyk was matched up with Brazilian powerhouse Andrade, a former bantamweight who has finishes across three weight divisions. The heavy-handed ‘Pile Driver’ carried a lot of hype prior to her first title fight with stoppages over Joanne Wood and former title challenger Jessica Penne.
Relentless in her approach, Andrade clipped Jedrzejczyk with punches inside the first minute, forming a hematoma on the head of the champion. Jedrzejczyk smiled and stood her ground on the feet. Andrade secured only two takedowns on Jedrzejczyk, who got up relatively quickly.
Displaying great defense and footwork, Jedrzejczyk outlanded Andrade nearly 3-to-1 in significant strikes. Jedrzejczyk put on a brutal leg kick clinic and kept Andrade guessing with jabs, kicks to the body and head.
Across five rounds of action, Jedrzejczyk set a new UFC title fight record with 225 significant strikes landed. ‘JJ’ won all five rounds against Andrade with one judge scoring the fight 50-44 in favor of the champion.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk says she’s especially proud of final title win
Following the best performance of her career, Joanna Jedrzejczyk didn’t stay on top of the strawweight division for long as she was TKO’ed by Rose Namajunas later that year.
Jedrzejczyk alternated between wins and losses after the fact, retiring in 2022 with a pro record of 16-5.
Looking back on a career that once saw her go 14-0, Jedrzejczyk said her fight with Andrade was one of her greatest performances.
“I’m really proud of myself [for] the fight with Jessica Andrade,” Jedrzejczyk told MMA Island.
“It was one of the best [performances] in my fighting career history.”
Jedrzejczyk has never landed more strikes than in her fight against Andrade and defended 8 takedown attempts across 25 minutes.