Joanna Jedrzejzyk: I will be champion again in 2018, ‘mark my words’

Although Joanna Jedrzejczyk was finished decisively by Rose Namajunas at UFC 217, succumbing to a barrage of strikes at 3:03 of the first round and losing her strawweight title, the Polish fan favorite has promised the MMA world that she will be champion again next year.

“In May, I will be champion again,” Jedrzejczyk said on a recent edition of The MMA Hour, per MMA Fighting’s Peter Carroll. “Mark my words. May, I’m coming back. It doesn’t matter if Rose is going to hold the belt or not — I will be back in May and mark my words.”

Despite losing in the first round, Joanna is still oozing with confidence and, in her mind, is still the rightful champion.

“I’m the greatest and for myself, I’m still the champion,” she said. “This is just another part in the movie. She can take the belt, but I am still the champion, you know? I’m coming back. I’m coming back really soon.

“I’m not going to cry, I want to talk to people about that. There is something about me, there is something in my body and nobody have it.”

Jedrzejczyk, who defended her title five times and was considered the most dominant female champ in the UFC, believes she is deserving of a rematch with ‘Thug’ Rose due to her accomplishments in the sport.

The 30-year-old also said UFC president Dana White hugged her and offered some words of encouragement after the fight.

“I believe, for what I have done for Dana and the UFC, I deserve the rematch. I will see. I saw Dana on the way back from the press conference,” Jedrzejczyk said.

“He hugged me, I wanted to leave him, but he was like, ‘Please, stop, I love you so much, we love you and nothing change. We love you even more for this and your comeback is going to be bigger than all of this.’”

Many champions are tested in defeat, and Jedrzejczyk believes she will come back stronger than ever in 2018.

“For myself, I turned the page and I felt like, ‘your comeback is going to be bigger than all of these records and bigger than this.’”

Despite losing the strawweight title, Jedrzejczyk is still ranked in the top 15 pound-for-pound rankings and is considered one of the best fighters in the world.