UFC sensation Joanna Jędrzejczyk is the current reigning and defending UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion and boasts an undefeated record of 14-0; Joanna Jędrzejczyk has held the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship for 26 months. Moreover, Jędrzejczyk is now just one victory away from leveling UFC superstar and “Entourage” Hollywood megastar Ronda Rousey‘s UFC record for most consecutive title defenses thereafter decapitating Jessica Andrade at UFC 211.

“She (Joanna Jędrzejczyk) is so bad ass… pound-for-pound [she is the] best female fighter on Earth… Her killer instinct is ridiculous” said UFC President Dana White.

Joanna Jędrzejczyk‘s silky smooth and accurate striking repertoire combined with relentless aggressive physicality and intense focus has drawn not only triumphant watermark victories but a strong fanbase around the globe also for the Polish professional athlete as well as empowering women in her native homeland and around the world. Joanna Jędrzejczyk‘s incredible stand-up game is undeniably the greatest in the UFC currently – female or male – bar none.

 “I put my dreams and goals higher. I don’t want to just be a champion, I want people to remember me as one of the best female fighters, one of the best UFC champions and I want to retire undefeated.” said Jędrzejczyk, whilst adding “Sometimes the fighters, the champions, they just lose because they live between their media life and their sport life and they don’t know what to do. They want to make all of them happy,”

Jose Aldo, Edson Barboza, Conor McGregor, Valentina Shevchenko and Cody Garbrandt rival the ever-dominant Pole in the stand-up game. However, the aforementioned accomplished UFC athletes do not possess the uncanny and very prolific versatility and technical adeptness which Joanna Jędrzejczyk has in her entertaining and explosive arsenal; Joanna Jędrzejczyk‘s outstanding footwork is also seemingly a work of art. Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino is currently talked about as the most dominant female Mixed Martial Artist in the world although the widely feared Brazilian competes at 145 pounds; Ronda Rousey competes at 135 pounds.

 Joanna Jędrzejczyk most recently successfully defended the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship for a fifth consecutive time thereafter defeating Jessica Andrade at UFC 211 via Decision; the very popular 29-year-old Polish professional athlete has previously defeated Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Claudia Gadelha, Valerie Letourneau, Jessica Penne, Carla Esparza and Juliana Lima since her UFC debut in July 2014; Jędrzejczyk has been compared to UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell.

Furthermore, Joanna Jędrzejczyk also holds an impressive professional kickboxing record of 27-2 and presently trains at the acclaimed ATT (American Top Team) in Coconut Creek, Florida. Jędrzejczyk’s incredible influence in the world of Mixed Martial Arts is unprecedented as the talented 5″6 115 pound Jędrzejczyk – who is also affectionately known as Joanna Champion by fans and media due to the difficulty in pronunciation of her last name – is currently the #1 strawweight and of course the #1 pound-for-pound female Mixed Martial Artist on the planet.

Joanna Jędrzejczyk has previously spoken about competing at 125 pounds although in the meanwhile Rose Namajunas is said to be the #1 contender for Jędrzejczyk’s UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship; Rose Namajunas’ record is 6-3 and somewhat matches Jedrzejcyk in terms of popularity amongst fans.

Claudia Gadelha – who Jędrzejczyk defeated at The Ultimate Fighter: Team Joanna vs. Team Claudia Finale on July 8, 2016 – is perhaps greater than any opponent that Ronda Rousey or Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino have indeed ever faced throughout their own domination in the sport.

Joanna Jędrzejczyk‘s well-documented Muay Thai background includes five amateur IFMA world championships, four amateur IFMA European Championships as well as many more accolades. Throughout Jędrzejczyk’s successful kickboxing career, the very popular Polish professional athlete has claimed the J-Girls Championship, WBKF Pro Title, WKF European Championship and the WKN World Championship.

 In addition, Joanna Jędrzejczyk‘s UFC records alone are groundbreaking. The Polish megastar holds UFC records for the highest significant strike differential in UFC history (+142 vs. Jessica Andrade at  UFC 211), coupled alongside the highest significant strikes thrown in a UFC Championship match (+225 vs. Jessica Andrade at UFC 211), the highest-ever amount of leg kicks officially landed in a fight in UFC‘s 24 year history (+75 vs. Jessica Andrade at UFC 211) as well as being the first-ever Poland-born UFC champion in history.

Undeniably, Joanna Jędrzejczyk has unequivocally cemented her solid reputation as one of the greatest female fighters of all-time although greatness is seemingly not enough for the dominant and highly focused athlete. The Polish UFC stars biggest aim is to shatter the all-time UFC record for most successful title defenses; Demetrious Johnson currently holds the all-time UFC record for title defenses with 10 successful defenses of the UFC Flyweight Championship (Demetrious Johnson‘s last loss came in October 2011 against Dominick Cruz).

However, the empowering and successful woman universally known as Joanna Champion has indeed proven that her beloved nickname is no fallacy. By all accounts, Joanna Jędrzejczyk is must-see and arguably the hottest commodity in Mixed Martial Arts at this particular moment in time. Joanna Champion is without question the people’s champion.

Credit: Dean Perretta

Dean Perretta Twitter: @DeanPerretta