Joanna Jedrzejczyk is expecting a completely different fight when Rose Namajunas meets Jessica Andrade again.
The strawweights first met for the title last year at UFC 237 as Namajunas was looking for her second title defense against Andrade. “Thug” had plenty of success on the feet against the Brazilian for majority of the fight.
Andrade equalized with a huge slam takedown in the second round that saw Namajunas land on her head and get knocked out cold.
However, Andrade would go on to lose her title in her first title defense after suffering a first-round TKO defeat to Weili Zhang at UFC Shenzhen. She is now set to rematch Namajunas at UFC 249 on April 18 in Brooklyn, New York.
Jedrzejczyk, meanwhile, will be looking to regain the strawweight title when she faces Zhang at UFC 248 on March 7. And having faced both Namajunas and Andrade, she gave her thoughts on the matchup.
“That’s an interesting fight. I want to see this fight,” Jedrzejczyk told The Schmo in a recent interview. “I know Jessica Andrade was not in shape when she was facing Weili Zhang and that’s why she lost.
“I know how strong is Jessica Andrade and how strong is Weili Zhang. But Rose Namajunas, her footwork, her boxing, her combos are very, very good.”
The former champion doesn’t like to predict fights. However, she is expecting the ‘more complete’ Namajunas to learn from her first fight with Andrade and deal with the takedown threat much better.
“I don’t like to predict the fight. … You can look better on paper but walking to the Octagon on the night of the fight, it’s always 50-50,” she added. “No prediction, but I feel like Rose is more complete. She did her homework and she will know how to defend Jessica’s takedowns.
“That girl [Andrade] can lift and we’re going to see a different fight between Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade this time.”
If Jedrzejczyk is able to regain the title, she could certainly end up facing the winner of that matchup.