Joanna Jedrzejczyk has made it clear she wants to run it back with Weili Zhang.
Jedrzejczyk last fought at UFC 248 where she suffered a razor-close split decision loss to Zhang for the strawweight belt. It was arguably the best fight of 2020 as the two threw down and traded shots with one another.
Since the fight, Jedrzejczyk hasn’t fought since then and has said she wants a title fight or the rematch. Zhang, meanwhile, lost back-to-back fights to Rose Namajunas but according to the Pole, it has been difficult getting the timing to make the rematch.
“I heard Zhang Weili may not be back until late July or August,” Jedrzejczyk revealed on The Fighter vs. The Writer on MMAFighting. “What they told me was that she was planning on being back to fighting March-April and then May-June. The last thing I heard was July-August. I can wait, and I want to wait, but on the other hand, I don’t want to wait that long.”
The plan for Joanna Jedrzejczyk is to return this year and she says she’s only interested in big fights. She doesn’t want a tune-up fight of sorts, instead, she makes it clear she is focused on getting back to the title and reclaiming her belt.
“It’s complicated because all the girls [ranked] from 1 to 10 are booked,” Jedrzejczyk said. “But like I said, I’m only looking at the big, big, big fights… So many people are like, ‘Get an easy fight, you’ve been out for a while,” Jedrzejczyk said.
“A fight is a fight. A fight is a pleasure. The hard work is so many weeks before. I make the same amount of money. I’m crazy. When I train, when I’m preparing for my fights, I’m crazy. I don’t go easy. So I don’t want to fight easy. I don’t want an easy fight. Because I will be training hard like for the championship fight. So I’ve been prepared to fight big names, No. 1 [contender] or the champion.