Heading into UFC 275, American Top Team head coach Mike Brown’s focus was on training Joanna Jedrzejczyk to beat Zhang Weili and nothing else.
Things didn’t their way, though, this past June after Jedrzejczyk was knocked out in the second round by Weili with a spinning backfist. The fight was Jedrzejczyk’s first since her epic war with Weili in March 2020, which the former UFC strawweight champion also lost.
Losing a second time to Weili was a tough pill for Jedrzejczyk to swallow, and afterward she took off her gloves to announce her retirement inside the cage. It was a move that didn’t surprise Brown.
“Honestly I didn’t think too much about it. I was thinking we expected to win,” Brown told MMA Junkie. “… I wasn’t thinking or dwelling on what might happen if things don’t go our way, but after things didn’t go our way, I wasn’t surprised. She’s accomplished so much. I think she’s done enough. Maybe it’s time to do some other things. She’s got a lot of opportunity, a lot of people knocking on her door, a lot of people saying, ‘What about this? What about that?’ I think it’s about taking care of some of these other opportunities she has and taking some time off. I wasn’t super surprised.”
At 35, Jedrzejczyk’s combat sports career lasted nearly two decades. She is one of the trailblazers of women’s MMA and put the 115-pound division on the map with a record five title defenses.
She recently told MMA Junkie that she “could be fighting” still and wasn’t hip to Dana White’s idea of putting her in the UFC Hall of Fame just yet. If that means Jedrzejczyk eventually returns to the cage, Brown would accept her with open arms – but he’s also OK if her fighting career truly is over.
“Of course, if that’s what she wanted to do,” Brown said. “She’s healthy, which is crazy she’s had no major injuries after all these years of fighting. Of course I would be on board, but I would also be really content with her retiring, and hopefully we’ll see her in the Hall of Fame very soon.”
