Joanna Jędrzejczyk
Joanna Jędrzejczyk is a Polish former mixed martial artist, Muay Thai fighter, and kickboxer. Born on August 18, 1987 in Olsztyn, Poland, she started Muay Thai as a teenager and became one of the sport’s top competitors, winning many world titles and earning more than 60 wins in Muay Thai and kickboxing.
She moved to mixed martial arts in 2012 and quickly built an impressive winning streak. In 2014 she joined the UFC, and in March 2015 she won the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship by defeating Carla Esparza, becoming Poland’s first UFC champion and the first female European UFC champion.
Jędrzejczyk defended her title five times: Jessica Penne, Valérie Létourneau, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Jéssica Andrade, and a rematch against Rose Namajunas. She also fought Namajunas in 2018 and later defeated Tecia Torres. She briefly tried to move up to flyweight to challenge Valentina Shevchenko in 2018 but did not win the title. In 2020 she again fought Zhang Weili for the strawweight belt in a bout widely praised as one of the greatest in women’s MMA, which she lost by split decision. A rematch with Zhang in 2022 ended in a knockout defeat and led to her retirement from MMA.
Beyond the cage, Jędrzejczyk is known for a precise, fought-tested striking style. She uses a sprawl-and-brawl approach, mixes high punches with body shots, knees, elbows, and leg kicks, and is praised for her footwork and distance control. She trained for many years with top teams, including American Top Team, and earned a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu in 2021.
In 2024 it was announced that Joanna Jędrzejczyk would be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. She is also known for staying calm and respectful with fans, while sometimes using strong words in pre-fight trash talk. She has spoken publicly about her faith as a Catholic and her personal life, including a previously public engagement that ended.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 01:48 (CET).