Joanna Shrugs Off Retirement Talks: ‘I Can’t Stop, I Won’t Stop’

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Joanna Jedrzejczyk is coming off one of the best fights of her entire career at UFC 248, but many believed the former UFC women’s strawweight champion could retire considering that fight ended in defeat to current titleholder Weili Zhang.

The loss to Zhang ended yet another push for UFC gold for Jedrzejczyk. Since losing her title in dramatic fashion to Rose Namajunas back at UFC 217 nearly three years ago the Polish superstar has gone 0-3 in UFC title fights. This includes a rematch with Namajunas, a move up in weight against UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, and her recent split-decision loss to Zhang in what remains 2020’s Fight of the Year.

Despite her recent track record against UFC champions and the fact that she really doesn’t have much to add to her already iron-clad resume, Jedrzejczyk has no plans of hanging it up. In fact, Joanna plans on fighting a few times a year for as long as she can.

“I will be fighting,” she told scmp.com (shown above). “I can’t stop. I won’t stop. I was thinking, ‘maybe I’ll do one, two, three more fights,’ but why not fight every year? Even if I do it once a year or twice a year, why not do it? I love it. It doesn’t matter if I keep winning or losing or keep fighting for the title or not, I just love it.”

“I see things differently,” added the former champ. “People give me so much energy and strength. I just want to do it for my fans all over the world.”

While Jedrzejczyk feels invigorated to get back into the cage and simply compete, the former UFC champion still has her sights set on another title. And if Joanna happens to recapture her belt she will try to give back to fight fans and partake in the biggest matchups possible.

“Being the champ again. I just want to give big fights to the fans, to the people, because I know my value is very big,” she said. “I just want people to see that we can never stop, that we can’t give up, that we should fight for our goals and dreams.

“I lost my last fight, but I feel I will rock the next fight even better. The last camp was special, but I know that I can do even better this time, and I will. I can’t wait. I’m excited. [There will be] lots of pain, lots of tears, lots of blood, sacrificing myself, but it’s worth it to step into the UFC Octagon and fight for the belt.

“[I want to be] a Hall of Famer,” she said. “One of the best. There’s me, Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes and Cris Cyborg. It’s the four of us who accomplished so much in this sport. I always wanted to be remembered, and I will be remembered.”

Jedrzejczyk, 33, remains one of the most popular female fighters on the UFC roster today and one of the best fighters in her division, which was evident in her bout opposite Zhang. Still, Joanna will have to win a few fights to regain her footing at 115 pounds and make another push towards the top.

What do you think, fight fans? Will Jedrzejczyk ever win UFC gold again?

Let’s hear it!

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