Joanna Jedrzejczyk will make her return inside the octagon after a two-year hiatus this weekend on June 12th to take on rival Zhang Weili in a three-round bout on the main card of UFC 275. This strawweight rematch will take place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
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Consequently, the Polish strawweight will be looking to settle the score once she steps inside the octagon as she lost the first matchup via unanimous decision against Weili back at UFC 248. After that loss, Joanna took a break from fighting and focused on some exciting business ventures.
Meanwhile, Zhang Weili suffered a brutal knockout loss to Rose Namajunas in the next fight and lost her strawweight title. Thereafter she fell short in the rematch via split decision against Thug Rose and failed to reclaim her belt.
As per the current title race scenario and the rankings, the winner of this fight will get a title shot. Therefore there is a lot at stake for both the fighters at UFC 275. Subsequently, fans are highly excited for this rematch as their first fight was unarguably the best women’s title fight in the history of the sport.
Owing to the fact that both Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk engaged in a five-round bloodbath and left their heart and soul inside the octagon. Before moving to the breakdown of this rematch, let us compare the stats of these two strawweights that will square off against each other at UFC 275.
UFC 275: Zhang Weili vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk Stats
Stats | Zhang Weili | Joanna Jedrzejczyk |
---|---|---|
Wins | 21 | 16 |
Losses | 3 | 4 |
Height | 5 ft 4 in | 5 ft 6 in |
Division | Strawweight | Strawweight |
Reach | 63 in | 65 in |
Age | 32 years old | 34 years old |
Can Joanna Jedrzejczyk outsmart Zhang Weili with her striking at UFC 275?
The first fight ended with both Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Zhang Weili withstanding pain and dishing out a lot of damage to each other throughout the five rounds. Fight fans can expect more action in the rematch at UFC 275 as these two strawweight contenders have great cardio and never put their foot off the peddle.
Despite the recent improvement in Weili’s ground game, this matchup would most likely end up in a striking battle and the winner of the fight would be determined by which contender has more weapons in their arsenal. In the first fight, Weili’s power caused a lot of problems for Joanna as she suffered a lot of damage.
However, the Polish strawweight would most likely not change her fighting style and come up with a new game plan as this bout is a three-round contest. She will be up to the task and push the pace and attempt to land a large volume of strikes. The key to victory for Joanna would be to land more leg kicks to stop Zhang Weili.
Although it is easier said than done because Weili’s speed is second to none and she lands extremely powerful shots once she closes the distance and is relentless. We could also see the Chinese strawweight mix it up by going for takedowns and observe better results as she did a great job against Rose Namajunas who has a great takedown defense.
Zhang Weili’s other advantage going into this fight would be the fact that Joanna has not competed for over two years now. Staying out of the fight game for such a long duration can impact any fighter significantly and in a three-round bout, every minute is important. So fans can expect Weili’s hands to get raised after the end of the fight at UFC 275.
In the end, one thing is for sure the rematch will be highly entertaining with both fighters displaying their terrific striking skills inside the octagon at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
UFC 275: Zhang Weili vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk Fight Prediction – Zhang Weili wins via decision