‘Always Wanted to Retire on My Rules’- Joanna Jedrzejczyk Not Looking to Become ‘Gatekeeper’ Following UFC 275 Defeat to Zhang Weili
Former UFC flyweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk appeared on the MMA and talked about her decision to retire following UFC 275. The Polish fighter has been a figurehead of the division and her decision to walk away after suffering a devastating KO loss to Zhang Weili on the main card shocked many people.
Weili landed a picturesque spinning attack right on Jedrzejczyk’s jaw and the former champion was out before she hit the canvas, face first, no less. In her recent interview, she talked about how she came into the fight in the best shape of her life, but still had the thought of potentially retiring if things didn’t go her way.
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“I’m not going to lie — I was going to win,” Jedrzejczyk told MMA Fighting on Wednesday. “I was in my best shape ever but like I said so many weeks before the fight and even a few days before the fight during media that anything can happen and it happened. It happened to me that I went down.”
“But before the fight, like during the camp, I had this moment that I was thinking about it. I was thinking about if something happened, I would retire and it happened. It just happened. It was momentum because of what happened in the fight. If I lost on points, I could sit and think about it but I don’t want to waste my health.”
Moreover, she was clear that her name wasn’t to be used as a springboard for younger fighters looking to make their name off her. Jedrzejczyk ‘accepted’ where she is and is glad to have been able to walk away on her own terms when it was all said and done.
“I always wanted to retire on my rules and I don’t want to be this gatekeeper,” Jedrzejczyk explained. “I don’t want to be this legend who is going to fight forever and forever and get beat up. That’s the thing. I accept where I am at, what my age is. [h/t mmafighting.com]
Jedrzejczyk retired with an MMA record of 16-5, with all her 5 defeats coming in the final 7 fights of her professional MMA career.
