Joanna Jedrzejczyk Believes Pressure is all on Rose Namajunas

Joanna Jedrzejczyk was a -417 favorite going into her UFC 217 title defense against Rose Namajunas. Of the 3 title fights which took place that night, hers was considered the most predictable, the fight with the least chance of a champion being dethroned. As it turned out, 3 champions would lose their titles that night with Joanna being the first to do so.

Since losing her title, Joanna has been quick to blame a tough weight cut for the loss. She has since fired her nutrition team, “Perfecting Athletes”.

“I know how the weight cut impacted my performance that night and it’s a shame that a lot of fighters are saying it’s my excuse,” Joanna told UFC.com yesterday. “I don’t wish for any one of them to have a weight cut like this and feel like crap the next day, the day of the fight that you have been preparing for 10, 12 long weeks, far away from your family with no excuses.”

How a long-time champion reacts to losing their title can go several directions. In the case of George St. Pierre, his loss to Matt Serra lit a fire inside the Montreal-native. GSP has won 13 straight since losing his first championship at UFC 50. On the flip-side, other champions have lost their confidence along with their titles and failed to fight up to their previous standards.

Joanna has no doubts she will end up in the former group of champions who add to their legacy after a title loss rather than subtract from it.

“It was never like, oh, I want to quit or she’s better,” Jedrzejczyk told UFC.com. “Of course she became a champion and she’s the champion right now and she’s a great fighter. But the thing is that I’m surrounded by good people, and my coaches – Katel Kubis, Mike Brown – they make me strong. The same night, in the locker room after the fight, they were like, ‘You’re bigger than that. Keep your head up.’”

Coinciding with Joanna’s mission to regain her championship is Rose Namajunas’ trek to legitimize her reign on top. If there is pressure on “Thug Rose”, however, she’s not showing it.

The famously stone-faced Namajunas is not giving in to the current era of smack-talk in MMA these days.

“All I need is to be myself,” Namajunas said at the UFC 223 presser. “I’ve got some new muscles and I have more knowledge, but my emotions are the same”.