Joanna Jedrzejczyk put on a striking clinic tonight in the main event of UFC Fight Night 69 as she successfully defended her strawweight title for the first time against a game, but ultimately outmatched Jessica Penne.
Round One:
The strawweight title fight is underway. Jedrzejczyk feeling out with punches as she takes the center of the cage. Penne tries to come forward with a punch, but Jedrzejczyk fires back at her immediately.
JJ firing off quick offense when the opportunity arises. Penne in on a takedown attempt and gets Jedrzejczyk up against the cage with it. JJ’s takedown defense as good as ever though and she breaks free and makes Penne pay with a short flurry of punches.
JJ now pressing forward, but Penne tries for a takedown and produces a scramble, almost getting the champion down. She’s still working for this and Jedrzejczyk has to adjust her balance to stop from falling down.
Finally Jedrzejczyk manages to get space and pushes Penne away to get back to striking range. Penne with a kick. JJ looking for strikes, but Penne picking her moment to duck under an overhand and then try for the takedown once again.
JJ stuffing it well this time and it’s Penne who goes down to her back and the champion decides not to follow her down.
Penne back up to her feet. Jedrzejczyk suddenly drops Penne with a punch and follows her to the mat looking for the finish. Penne able to survive though.
Penne gets up in the final seconds of the round and as Jedrzejczyk presses forward the challenger manages to land a nice judo throw just as the buzzer sounds.
Round Two:
Jedrzejczyk with a jab and then a leg kick. She targest the body now. Combination from the champion. Leg kick lands too.
Lots of pressure from Jedrzejczyk in the early stages of this round. Few punches from Penne and then she works for the takedown. Nothing doing though and JJ is in the clinch for a moment against the cage before breaking free.
Front kick to the face from JJ. Lovely flurry of punches followed by a leg kick from her.
Jedrzejczyk with a leg kick. Another kick upstairs now. Penne nose bleeding quite heavily and JJ hurts Penne with an elbow strike and hits reverse gear looking a little dazed.
JJ unleashes a fantastic combination of quick lefts and rights as she goes for the finish. Credit to Penne though, she digs deep and manages to battle into a clinch for a breather.
Jedrzejczyk free again landing knees and fighting with well earned confidence. She steps in with a good jab. Now another rapid-fire flurry against the cage from the champion and again Penne hangs tough and survives with the ref watching closely.
They break apart. One-two for JJ. Another left and right, then a push kick. Penne’s face is just absolutely soaked in blood.
Knee to the body then more lightning quick punches from Jedrzejczyk – a pleasure to watch, though it’s not fun from where Penne is standing. She lives to fight another round though.
Round Three:
Penne cleaned up a little, but still bleeding from the nose as she enters into the third. She’s still looking to try to strike with the champion though. Not paying off for her though as JJ is clearly the more accomplished striker. She proves that by landing a hard leg kick that stumbles the challenger.
A kick from Jedrzejczyk. A combination of punches and body kick now. Penne moves forward with a couple of punches and a kick.
Leg kick from JJ. right hand gets through and a high kick that’s blocked.
Penne trying to get the champion down, but ends up falling to the mat herself and JJ doesn’t follow her down.
Jedrzejczyk pushing forward again with strikes, but Penne gets into the clinch and works the takedown attempt. JJ down to her knee, but stands. Penne not giving up though and continues in the clinch.
She moves away now and JJ throws a push kick. Now a punch to the body and a kick to the leg. Another punch and leg kick. Good variety. Quite a few leg kicks finding the mark for the champion.
Penne tries to clinch and gets an elbow for her troubles. JJ backs her up to the cage with punches. Penne covering up now after an overhand lands. Jedrzejczyk looking to pick her punches, but the ref thinks that Penne has had enough as she remains in her defensive shell against the cage. He’s called an end to the fight, giving Jedrzejczyk the TKO victory at 4.22mins of the third round.
Penne probably could have fought on a bit longer there if allowed to, but in fairness she was getting absolutely picked apart by the precision striking of the Polish champion who sent a big statement to the rest of the division tonight by dominating another top contender.
On this kind of form Jedrzejczyk really looks like a star and is becoming one of the most entertaining fighters to watch in the sport.
