This may come as a surprise to some readers, but MMA fighters are people, too, including “The Boogeywoman,” Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk has proven to be the consummate MMA fighter, including the level of professionalism she displays in her approach to her work. But despite her professionalism, at the end of the day, she is a woman, and she is not exempt or immune to girl problems. And like anybody, if the personal matters hit the heart hard enough, they can impact all areas of one’s life, including work performance. Believe it or not, according to the former strawweight queen, that is exactly what happened to her leading into both of her fights against former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas.

“Life of a single (woman),” Jedrzejczyk said with a laugh on a recent episode of UFC Unfiltered. “People in Poland know more, but people in the States and worldwide, they don’t know much about my private life. The last two years were pretty difficult for me. It was a rough time, and I feel like 2019 is a special year, so I can’t wait for 2020.

“I broke up with my fiance, and we broke up before my first fight with Rose Namajunas, and this terrible weight cut happened, and I broke up again,” Jedrzejczyk continued. “This year I found out that my [previous Polish] manager messed up my money, and then I found out that my fiance was cheating on me.

“That girl called me; I think that she was afraid that I was going to beat her up so badly, but I was like, ‘No, I’m kidding.’ I just want to show to people and tell people that there’s always something going on in our lives. It doesn’t matter who you are. If your private life is not going in the right direction, you’re not going to be successful in the sport, or in the business.”

Joanna Jedrzejczyk, like many people around the world, are entering 2020 looking to keep the past right there: in the past. Moving forward, Jedrzejczyk has a tall task ahead of her in trying to dethrone strawweight champion Weili Zhang, who has not lost a fight since her debut. Joanna feels prepared for the task in all aspects, including emotionally and spiritually.

“This year was amazing, and I cannot wait for that coming 2020. Now I feel free. I feel me, I feel Joanna again. I’m more smart, I’m more experienced. Maybe shitty things happened in my life, but it has to happen somehow. I’m happy. I know what life is about now. When I turned 30, I thought I knew a lot and I had experienced a lot. I was broken in my life, so dedicated to the sport, losing my mind into the sport, working so hard. But that’s the difference – I’m happy now.”

Joanna Jedrzejczyk will challenge Weili Zhang for the strawweight championship at UFC 248, which will take place live from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Nevada on March 7, 2020.