Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Age: 30
Nationality: Polish
MMA Record: 14-2
UFC Record: 8-2
Notable Wins: Jessica Andrade, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Claudia Gadelha
Notable Losses: Rose Namajunas
Last Fight: Decision loss to Rose Namajunas
Fighter Profile: The former women’s strawweight champion, Jedrzejczyk was one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport not too long ago. She is an amazing striker capable of dominating her opponents on the feet, and with her solid takedown defense is able to keep the majority of her fights standing. Enter Namajunas, who just has her number, as her last two fights were losses to the new champ. That makes it hard to say if she’s on a decline or if Namajunas is just a bad matchup for her. I’m of the opinion it was just a bad matchup, and that Jedrzejczyk still has a lot left in the tank, but this fight with Torres will tell us a lot about that. A big win, and Jedrzejczyk is right back in the title mix at 115lbs. A loss, and it would be three straight defeats for the former longtime champion. It’s crazy to think that Jedrzejczyk is in a must-win situation, but that looks like exactly what’s happening to her this weekend.
Tecia Torres
Age: 28
Nationality: American
MMA Record: 10-2
UFC Record: 6-2
Notable Wins: Rose Namajunas, Felice Herrig, Angela Hill
Notable Losses: Rose Namajunas, Jessica Andrade
Last Fight: Decision loss to Jessica Andrade
Fighter Profile: One of the most well-rounded fighters in the women’s strawweight division, Torres relies on her wrestling and volume striking game to beat her opponents. And for the most part, it works, even though she can be unentertaining to watch at times. Torres is a strong fighter for her weight class and she’s pretty fast which allows her to outstrike the majority of her opponents. Her biggest flaw is her lack of finishing ability, as most of her fights go to decision, and when she steps up in competition that becomes a concern. Torres is one of the better strawweights on the roster, but perhaps not quite at the championship level. A win over Jedrzejczyk would go a long way towards answering those questions, and we’ll find out this weekend how that goes.
Fight Breakdown: I think this is going to be primarily a striking matchup, and if that’s the case I have to go with Jedrzejczyk even despite her recent losses to Namajunas coming on the feet. I still feel like Jedrzejcyk is a terrific striker and she has a lot more power than Torres, who relies on just volume to win her fights. Jedrzejczyk should be able to thwart any of Torres’ takedown attempts and while I think Torres may be able to take one round here, I think Jedrzejczyk controls the striking for the majority of the fight and does enough to win at least two rounds on the scorecards and take home a decision on the judges’ scorecards. Will that be enough to get her another title shot? We’ll see, but a knockout win would help more in that regard.
Prediction: Joanna Jedrzejczyk via decision
