UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s next title defense will come against Rose Namajunas at UFC 217 in New York City on November 4th.
The 29-year-old Jedrzejczyk extended her career record to a perfect 14-0 back in May with a convincing five round decision victory over Jessica Andrade at UFC 211 and she’s now marching on towards what would be her sixth successful title defense in a row.
A fight with the 25-year-old Namajunas always seemed like an inevitability at some stage for Jedrzejczyk, and it comes after ‘Thug’ emerged with a second round rear-naked choke submission over Michelle Waterson back in April.
Prior to that Namajunas has actually came out on the wrong end of a split decision to Karolina Kowalkiewicz, ending a three-fight winning streak that had saw her defeat a string of respected opponents like Tecia Torres, Paige VanZant and Angela Hill.
Namajunas is currently the No.3 ranked contender in the division, but with the two ladies above her on the ladder, the aforementioned Kowalkiewicz and Claudia Gadelha, both having recently lost to the champion, it makes sense that ‘Thug’ Rose now gets a chance to try and wrench the belt from Jedrzejczyk’s grasp.
Jedrzejczyk vs Namajunas looks set to serve as the co-main event for UFC 217, which will be headlined by a major middleweight title fight between Michael Bisping and Canadian superstar Georges St-Pierre, who is set to make his comeback after a four year absence from the sport.
