ATT owner Dan Lambert says Joanna Jedrzejczyk could only return to the UFC for one specific fight
Former UFC Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk last fought for the title against Weili Zhang at UFC 248. Regarded as the greatest Women's MMA fight of all time, the two women went to war and not only stole the show but had what many consider to be the fight of the year so far.
It was a narrow fight that was awarded to the reigning Champion Weili Zhang. While many argued that it could have been a draw or even a win for Joanna Jedrzejczyk, that seems to have been forgotten, with people now acknowledging the fight for its greatness.
Joanna Jedrzejczyk belongs to the American Top Team and ATT owner Dan Lambert spoke to the Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com and revealed that Joanna Jedrzejczyk is only interested in big fights or a title fight. He said that the judges made their decision based on the fact that Joanna Jedrzejczyk looked like the more damaged fighter :
“That is the best female fight of all-time, but it goes above and beyond that. It was just an amazing fight period. A really competitive fight and if you go back and watch it and she didn’t have that swelling in the fifth round, judges were given more credit to the champ because of the damage Joanna was showing. I thought Joanna Jedrzejczyk won that fifth round which was the deciding factor in the fight,” Lambert said
Aware that Rose Namajunas is next in line for a UFC Strawweight title shot, Lambert said that they're going to sit back and see what happens:
“It was a great fight and everyone wants to see it again. I think the UFC is leaning towards giving Rose the next shot so Joanna will sit back and see what happens. I don’t think a lot makes sense besides fighting for the title.”
It seems clear that Joanna Jedrzejczyk isn't going to fight for the remainder of 2020.
Does Joanna Jedrzejczyk have a valid claim for a title shot?
It's going to be interesting to see how things play out. Tatiana Suarez would have been in the mix for the title had she not been injured. There's no clear-cut status on her return yet.
However, there's still a possibility of Joanna Jedrzejczyk getting a title shot due to how close her fight against Weili Zhang was. With that said, she's now 0-4 in her last four title fights and it's going to be hard for her to get a title shot based on that.