UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk will defend her title against Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 205 in New York City on November 12th.
Jedrzejczyk has been a dominant force at 115lb since entering the UFC in the summer of 2014, soon establishing herself as the champion of the weight class by defeating Carla Esparza, and then successfully defending her title on three occasions against jessica Penne, Valerie Letourneau and most recently Claudia Gadelha.
In total the Polish star has won six straight fights in the UFC and is a perfect 12-0 in his MMA career to date.
Now she’ll go up against fellow Polish fighter Kowalkiewicz, who she has already fought back in 2012 when they were both still amateurs, with Jedrzejczyk emerging victorious on that occasion by submission.
Since then Kowalkiewicz has followed in her opponent’s footsteps to become a major player in her own right, Also holding an unblemished pro record of 10-0, including wins over Randa Markos, Heather Jo clark and Rose Namajunas to secure her title shot.
With Jedrzejczyk Vs Kowalkiewicz booked, UFC 205 now has two title fights on deck, with a welterweight title bout between Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson already installed for the historic show at Madison Square Garden.
As two 25-minute title fights have now been announced, that would appear to rule out the chance of another major title bout being booked for the show, which is likely to snuff out any remaining hope that perhaps UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor would front the show.
When the NYC event was first announced, most fans had envisaged a major star headlining the show, with the likes of McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Jon Jones or even Georges St. Pierre all being floated as potential options, but for various reasons it’s not worked out that way so far, though the UFC has yet to confirm who will top the card, so they may yet pull a rabbit out of the hat.
Nevertheless, a deep card featuring many stars of the sport has been put together so far, with other confirmed bouts including Chris Weidman Vs Yoel Romero, Rashad Evans Vs Tim Kennedy, Frankie Edgar Vs Jeremy Stephens and Donald Cerrone Vs Kelvin Gastelum.
