Joanna Jedrzejczyk defends UFC title in brutal display

UFC STRAWWEIGHT champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk has shown competitors what will happen to them if they try to take her title from her. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES

UFC Fight Night

If there was any doubt about Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s standing as the best strawweight fighter in the world, she certainly solidified her claim by mauling former “Ultimate Fighter” competitor Jessica Penne to defend her 115-pound title in the main event from Germany on Saturday.

Jedrzejczyk was a massive favourite going into the fight over Penne, but her dominant performance over former champion Carla Esparza in March still left questions if the Polish powerhouse could do it again with all the pressure on her back to get an equally impressive win.

Needless to say, Jedrzejczyk left no doubts when the fight was over.

To no one’s surprise, Jedrzejczyk was a far superior striker than Penne as she cracked combinations off in rapid fire succession while the challenger could only cover up and fire back with a jab to keep the champion from flurrying.

Penne tried time and time again throughout the first round to secure a takedown, but despite a couple of occasions where she played her cards right and got a deep body lock on Jedrzejczyk, she just couldn’t drag her to the mat.

The second round saw the champion take over after a brutal elbow strike crushed Penne’s nose and opened a huge gash on the right side as blood started pouring down her face like a faucet. To make matters worse, Jedrzejczyk continued her offensive assault, which only made Penne’s nose explode as the blood cascaded over her face like a paintball exploded at close range.

Jessica Penne shed a fair bit of blood during her fight with Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Jedrzejczyk continued to pour on the offence as referee Marc Goddard warned Penne on several occasions to fight back or he would stop the fight. Penne showed incredible toughness and heart as she constantly grabbed onto Jedrzejczyk’s head or arms to survive a combination or to fight back whenever the referee gave her the challenge.

The third round is where Jedrzejczyk smelled blood in the water as she continued to target Penne’s head with fast and lethal combinations. Penne’s cut only got worse as she continue to get bloodied up with every strike landed.

Finally, Jedrzejczyk cornered Penne against the cage and opened up another huge offensive barrage. This time Goddard saw enough and stopped the fight.

The stoppage came at 4:22 into the third round with Jedrzejczyk getting the win by TKO.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk was ruthless in her assault on Jessica Penne

“I put on a great performance and everybody was talking about her Judo and jiu-jitsu,” Jedrzejczyk said after her win. “I fought with Claudia Gadelha, she’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu. I fought with Carla Esparza, she’s supposed to be the greatest one in the strawweight division.

“I’m going to be champion for a while. Nobody’s going to take this belt from me.”

When the final statistics were tabulated, Jedrzejczyk out landed Penne by 162-28 in total strikes and 126-25 in significant strikes. The significant strikes differential was good for second greatest in UFC championship history.

The strawweight champion landed an incredible 61.8-percent of her strikes, which was up from the already significant 51-percent she landed when she won the title by defeating Esparza back in March.

Jedrzejczyk certainly solidified her reign with the title fight victory while sending a very strong message to anybody trying to take her belt at 115 pounds.

“Are they ready for me?” Jedrzejczyk said when asked about her next contender.

“No.”

Following another dominant win, Jedrzejczyk will now likely sit and wait until UFC 190 to find out who her next opponent will be as Claudia Gadelha meets newcomer Jessica Aguilar in a fight that will likely claim the new No. 1 contenders spot.

Originally published as Joanna Jedrzejczyk defends UFC title in brutal display