UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is fond of putting up a single index finger in the air during press events or after facing-off with an opponent before they fight, to tell the world that she is number one. In fact, Joanna “Champion” takes that symbol so seriously that she nearly got into a fight over it with then-champion Carla Esparza after a photo op before their title bout last year, when Carla had the temerity to raise an index finger of her own.
“You don’t do that,” Joanna angrily told her.
“I do that.”
Incoming UFC strawweight contender Jessica Aguilar has a fight coming up against Claudia Gadelha to likely decide the next challenger to Jedrzejczyk. When I spoke with Aguilar back in 2013, before the UFC had instituted its own 115-pound division, the strawweight ribbed me for even suggesting that anyone else could possibly be considered the top of that class.
“I am the best in the world,” Aguilar told me, simply.
She has good reason to believe that. “JAG” has won ten straight fights, including a decision over Esparza, and hasn’t lost since 2010.
So, it’s little wonder that she’s being jumped to the front of the title contender’s line into a fight with Gadelha — who herself lost only by razor-thin close decision to Joanna in 2014. Aguilar recently answered questions about the champion and didn’t seem all too impressed.
According to the contender, the No. 1 fighter at 115 pounds is simply “one-dimensional.” Aguilar went on to say that the champion is untested on the ground, and that she’d take the striking specialist into those deep, dangerous waters.
“She has great takedown defense, but we haven’t seen [her] on the ground,” she said.
“This fight is going to go on the ground. We’re going to start standing, but you’re going to see a mix of everything.”
None of that is to say that Aguilar doesn’t respect Joanna’s abilities. “I think she’s a great champion. She’s done her job well. Strong stand up, very strong,” she said.
The American Top Team fighter is simply confident that she’d come up with the winning approach against the champ. “With the right strategy, anyone can be beaten,” she concluded.
First, Aguilar will have to get past Gadelha on the Brazilian’s home turf, at UFC 190 in August. Dominant as she has looked in her last two outings, Jedrzejczyk has at least two hungry and capable threats eager to get a crack at her and her belt.
Courtesy of: Fox Sports