UFC Womens Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is one successful title defense away from breaking former women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey’s consecutive title defense record.
Joanna is quickly becoming recognized as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, female fighter of all time.
Fellow UFC fighter and former Invicta FC Featherweight Champion Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino weighs in on Jedrzejczyk’s potential status as the best female fighter ever.
"Joanna is a great athlete and an example of what the UFC machine can do in terms of promotion and marketing,” Cyborg told MMA Fighting. “Of my last five fights, three were on Fight Pass. Joanna fought once on Fight Pass, was on the TV show Ultimate Fighter, and she normally fights as co-main event under fighters like (Conor) McGregor and Ronda (Rousey). You can do a lot of marketing over any athlete, but I’m the only athlete, men or women, that finished 90 percent of her fights by knockout. Who’s the best MMA fighter of all times, I always left that for fans to decide. Media can influence some fans, but the truth always appears, as it did with the American hero Ronda Rousey."
Cyborg has competed twice herself under the UFC banner, defeating Leslie Smith and Lina Lansberg.
While Cyborg hasn’t been in the Octagon in quite awhile, that hasn’t stopped her from keeping her focus.
"My next step is to stay focused, training to finish my contract with the UFC,” Cyborg said. "After that, I’ll know what my next steps will be. (…) I want to finish my contract. Whoever they put in front of me, I’ll fight. I’d like to fight someone who’s ranked in my weight division, someone like Megan Anderson, but there’s no ranking anymore. To come off a win doesn’t mean you will get the opportunity to fight for the belt."
Jedrzejczyk last competed at UFC 211, where she successfully defended her gold against Jessica Andrade. While Cyborg hasn’t competed since UFC Fight Night 95, where she defeated Lina Lansberg by second round TKO.
