If the UFC doesn’t grant Carla Esparza a strawweight title shot, Joanna Jedrzejczyk is happy to fight her.
Esparza (18-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC), who’s on a five-fight winning streak and No. 2 in the official rankings. figures to be the frontrunner for a shot at UFC champion Rose Namajunas, but with Dana White recently dismissing her, Jedrzejczyk is down to rematch Esparza.
Jedrzejczyk (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) dethroned Esparza in March 2015 at UFC 185 to capture the strawweight title and went on to defend it a division-record five times before losing it to Namajunas in November 2017.
“It would be an interesting fight,” Jedrzejczyk said in an interview with the South China Morning Post. “We have a good fighting history. She’s waiting for the title shot. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. She might get the title shot. She might not get it because Dana is saying something totally different than Mick (Maynard), but I don’t know. I would love to fight her and if she wants to get the title shot, I can fight her.”
If not Esparza, Jedrzejczyk would welcome another rematch with her most recent opponent, former champion Zhang Weili. The pair engaged in the 2020 “Fight of the Year” at UFC 248 in March 2020, and Jedrzejczyk hasn’t fought since she was edged out by Weili.
“She might be the next one. I don’t know,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I don’t know how much I need the fight with Weili Zhang to get the title shot in case Rose is not ready to fight in March, April because I believe she wants to rest. She put on a hell of a performance. It was a pretty tough fight, five rounds, so I bet she wants to enjoy her time as a champ, as a human. So we will see. I don’t know what the next step is going to be.”
It’s been almost two years since Jedrzejczyk has competed, but she said she plans on returning in 2022. The priority for the former champion is a trilogy bout with Namajunas for the title, but if she doesn’t get her wish, she won’t hold out on it.
“I know how to do business, as well, and I understand UFC and Dana promised me after my last fight, but I understand Rose’s position,” Jedrzejczyk said. “She’s the champ, and she can decide who she wants to fight next and when. I feel like I want to be back to the octagon March, April, so if the champ is not going to be ready, if she’s not willing to fight me, so I will take another fight because I just want to be back. I don’t want to sit here and wait another six, eight, 12 months. It’s not that UFC made the pressure on me that I have to take another fight, but I just want to do what’s good and best for me.”