Jedrzejczyk’s return: Can she turn it around?

There was a time that JJ seemed as though she was unbeatable and this has happened many times in UFC and I would say even more so in the women's division. Remember a lady named Rhonda Rousey and how no one could even come close to defeating her? It was just a foregone conclusion that she was going to win? It wasn't a question of "if" it was just "how." Yet that all changed one day and after 2 losses she walked away from the sport for good.

The same can be said of Amanda Nunes and also Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who I will refer to as "JJ" from this point forward because yeah, I am definitely copy/pasting that surname every time it appears.

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JJ looked unstoppable right from the start of her rise in the UFC ranks and it came as no surprise that she captured the Strawweight title with relative ease. With 8 consecutive victories from 2014 to 2017 made it appear as though no one could possibly defeat JJ. Then perhaps she got too cocky and Rose came along and defeated her twice.

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Once by a shocking 1st round TKO and the other by decision. JJ hasn't really regained her composure since then and has had a mixed bag of results since late 2018. Basically, if you have heard of the person that she was fighting against, she lost.

The worst or at least most gruesome defeat coming at UFC 248 where Zhang Weili caused a hematoma that turned JJ into the elephant woman for several rounds.

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Despite this very quick buildup of blood in her forehead, the doctors and officials allowed it to go the full 5 rounds where JJ lost by decision.

This was nearly 2 years ago and the MMA world hasn't heard much out of the Polish star since then. She's been gone so long that she has been removed from the UFC rankings and I'm not going to pretend to understand why that is.... it's probably some sort of political thing.

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A far less mouthy JJ was at the press conference for the Covington v Masvidal PPV event where she was not at all arrogant but stated that she would only be interested in top-flight fights upon her return, which has not been announced yet but I'm guessing that since she was invited to speak to the press that this will likely be sometime soon. She expressed interest in fighting Rose, Zhang, or Carla Esparza. She made no mention of any other names. It seems likely to me that she will end up in a rematch with Zhang since Esparza deserves the next shot at the belt in the strawweight division.

I hope that JJ can return to form because when she was at her peak she was really amazing to see in her bouts. However, there have been a lot of fighters that after suffering a couple of brutal defeats never were able to return to form so it wouldn't really surprise me a great deal if she fails in this endeavor.