Joanna Jedrzejczyk reached UFC title fight in short order

By Case Keefer (contact)

Wednesday, March 11, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk amassed more than 60 victories and five championships between amateur and professional Muay Thai competitions before inadvertently knocking herself out of the sport.

The 27-year-old Polish fighter became a victim of her own success when opportunities began to desiccate.

“I couldn’t get good opponents,” Jedrzejczyk said. “They were cancelling the fights. They were afraid.”

Jedrzejczyk could go from dreaded in European kickboxing circles to the most feared female fighter in the world at her 115-pound weight class Saturday night in Dallas. She won’t have trouble finding fights either way.

Jedrzejczyk (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) challenges champion Carla Esparza (10-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) for the UFC women’s strawweight title in the co-main event of UFC 185.

Looking back, she’s eternally thankful for the forced Muay Thai hiatus because it persuaded her to give into her coaches’ repeated requests to try mixed martial arts.

“My trainers were like, ‘Come on, try some wrestling, jiu-jitsu,” said Jedrzejczyk, whose last name is pronounced Yed-zhey-chik. “In the beginning I was like, ‘No, take it easy.’ But I’m just loving it.”

The transition didn’t take long. Jedrzejczyk, who finished her UFC 185 camp at Robert Drysdale’s gym in Las Vegas last week, only needed a handful of training sessions before she felt comfortable enough to book an MMA bout.

The UFC came calling a few fights later, and now she has the chance to turn into one of the quickest-developed champions in the history of the promotion. Saturday’s fight with Esparza takes place less than three years after Jedrzejczyk started in MMA.

“Joanna definitely came out of the woodwork,” Esparza said. “She’s someone I didn’t know a lot about before seeing her fight in the UFC, but that just goes to show there are 115-pounders all over the world just going to come out of nowhere.”

Esparza won the belt by getting through a 16-fighter bracket in “The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned.” Jedrzejczyk wasn’t included in the cast, which may have wound up a benefit as she got a jump on her UFC career.

She was featured in the second strawweight fight in UFC history, winning a unanimous decision over Juliana Lima at UFC on Fox 12. That set up a UFC on Fox 13 bout against heavily favored Claudia Gadelha, whom many considered the world’s best 115-pounder, but Jedrzejczyk eked out a split decision.

She wasn’t even fully prepared for what happened next.

“I thought I was going to do two or three more fights before the title shot, but (UFC President) Dana (White) and people from the UFC decided so I’m happy,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I had tough fights and tough opponents so that’s why I’m here. I didn’t get it for free.”

Now she’s determined not to give the champion a cheap title defense. Going up against a wrestler of Esparza’s caliber would have sounded senseless a few years ago when Jedrzejczyk had never attempted any discipline outside of striking.

But she’s a fast riser.

“I’m still learning every day,” Jedrzejczyk said. “The toughest thing was putting it all together but now I can say I’m a complete MMA fighter and I’m not afraid to fight with somebody who’s good in wrestling or on the ground.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.