Joanna Jedrzejczyk
UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk (10-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) will meet Valerie Letourneau (8-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) – not Claudia Gadelha (13-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC), as originally planned – at UFC 193.
UFC officials today announced the bout, which takes place Nov. 14 at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne and is expected to set a UFC attendance record. The main card, including a headliner between women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm, airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
The Jedrzejczyk vs. Gadelha rematch was initially expected to take place at UFC 195, and though the challenger is reportedly nursing a hand injury, she recently announced she’d be ready to fight Jedrzejczyk whenever the champ wanted.
UFC officials, though, ultimately decided to go a different direction. Now, the UFC has its first event with females in the headliner and co-headliner.
The undefeated Jedrzejczyk looks for her second title defense after winning the belt form Carla Esparza and defending it with a recent TKO of Jessica Penne. Both bouts earned fight-night bonuses. Just prior to the pair of title fights, the 28-year-old Polish striker, who’s quickly become one of the UFC’s biggest fan favorites, narrowly defeated Gadelha in late 2014, though most media outlets scored the fight for the Brazilian (via MMADecisions.com).
Letourneau enters the title fight with three consecutive UFC victories and an overall four-fight winning streak. The 32-year-old Canadian, who suffered a submission loss to vet Roxanne Modafferi in the elimination round of “The Ultimate Fighter 18,” signed with the UFC anyway. Most recently, she earned a unanimous-decision victory over Maryna Moroz.
The latest UFC 193 card now includes:
- Champ Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm – for women’s bantamweight title
- Champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Valerie Letourneau – for strawweight title
- Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva
- Michael Bisping vs. Robert Whittaker
- Akbarh Arreola vs. Jake Matthews
- Kyle Noke vs. Peter Sobotta
- Anthony Perosh vs. Gian Villante
- Ricardo Abreu vs. Daniel Kelly
- Steven Kennedy vs. Richard Walsh
- Jared Rosholt vs. Stefan Struve
- Brendan O’Reilly vs. William Macario
- Danny Martinez vs. Richie Vaculik
- Ryan Benoit vs. Ben Nguyen
For more on UFC 193, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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