LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Joanna Jedrzejczyk[/autotag] believes champion Zhang Weili is her own worst enemy going into Saturday’s UFC 248 title fight.
Jedrzejczyk (16-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) got her first in-person look at Weili (20-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) during Thursday’s media day festivities, and she said there was a key takeaway: The current strawweight titleholder thinks a little too much of herself.
“She’s acting like she’s confident,” Jedrzejczyk told MMA Junkie. “She’s overconfident – in her eyes, I can see that she’s a little girl. She’s not ready. It’s too much for her. She doesn’t know how to carry herself as a champ, and I will prove that.”
Jedrzejczyk said in the build-up to UFC 248, which takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass, that she intends on punishing Weili to the point of no return.
Weili brings a 20-fight winning streak into her first title defense, and she’s never been beaten inside the octagon. Jedrzejczyk has been fighting at the highest level for much longer than her foe, though, so she doesn’t understand why Weili would predict a first-round knockout.
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“I see that she is overconfident, she is overcoming and she is getting cocky and arrogant – and she doesn’t want to look in my eyes,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I will do my best to make her quit and beg me to stop. But I know she is very dangerous. Everything and anything can happen. Knockout, submission – but I’m ready to take this war. I’m ready to go through the war.”
For Jedrzejczyk, UFC 248 represents the most significant moment since she started competing in combat sports more than a decade ago. The former 115-pound champ has an opportunity to regain the title she lost in November 2017 and become the first female in UFC history to achieve two separate title reigns in the same weight class.
“It’s the most important fight of my fighting career, in my life,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I’m very happy to be the challenger and take back what belongs to me – the strawweight belt. It’s been a while. I was the champ for 966 days and it’s been more than 518 days without me having the belt, without me being the champ. It means I was the champ for the reason, and I’m the right person to be the challenger for the strawweight belt.”
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