Joanna Jedrzejczyk responds to Dana White's subtle shot about her "being at the beach" ahead of UFC 248
Dana White recently spoke about UFC 248 and when asked about the co-main event for the Strawweight Championship, he was full of praise for Chinese undisputed Champion Weili Zhang while taking a small shot at former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, saying:
“These two, right now, if you look at Joanna, she’s out at the beach and living the lifestyle. Then you watch Weili Zhang’s posts on Instagram — hardcore training, non-stop training, all she thinks about is fighting — it’s fascinating.”
Perhaps it was an unnecessary comment since fighters are usually told to slow down a bit and not overtrain in the last week-and-a-half before the fight. Zhang, however, has a work ethic on another level and has chosen to go through with the fight despite her camp being forced to move from China to Thailand (and she went from Thailand to Abu Dhabi before landing in the United States of America).
TSN‘s Aaron Bronsteter (H/T BJPENN.com) spoke to Jedrzejczyk, who wasn't pleased with the comments her boss made. She justified wanting to enjoy her life, saying:
“Man, I bet she hasn’t trained more for this fight than me. I’ve trained thirty times a week, three times per day, and I put on hard work. Some people like to go home and do nothing. Drink beer or watch TV. I don’t do that. I like to enjoy my life you know? I want to do stuff I really love to. I don’t have to do things people want me to do. So I am living my life. I don’t live your life. I don’t need someone’s life. People are just jealous you know.”
Either way, the Strawweight Championship fight is arguably the most exciting women's MMA fight since Amanda Nunes vs Cris Cyborg in late 2018. Zhang is the favorite but it would be disrespectful to Jedrzejczyk to simply brush her off. She still competes at the highest level and her only losses have come against Rose Namajunas and Valentina Shevchenko, the latter who is physically bigger.