Like most fighters, many struggle to stay retired and think they can make a comeback. Some fighters don’t just think about it some actually come back like Henry Cejudo. However, some realise the time is correct to hang up the gloves like former UFC Fighter Chan Sung Jung “The Korean Zombie”. The Former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk has struggled with her retirement so far.
Joanna Jędrzejczyk Announces Her Retirement
Joanna Jedrzejczyk announced her retirement after losing to the current strawweight champion Zhang Weili by knockout in the 2nd round. This fight was for an opportunity to fight the current champion at the time, Carla Esparza. Zhang Weili would end up getting the opportunity and submitting the champion in the 2nd round. Despite hanging up the gloves Jedrzejczyk did not rule out a return to the octagon in the future.
Is The Queen of Violence Thinking about a Comeback?
“I have to be honest with you, yes [I thought about fighting again],” Jędrzejczyk admitted on The MMA Hour. “Even a few days before the last show in Miami [at UFC 299], I was like trying to force my manager to let me go in. But my family, some of my fans and friends, they don’t want me to do this anymore. I’m like in between, but I’m not going to fight in the UFC ever again.”
Joanna Jędrzejczyk admitted the hardest part of the retirement was the time straight after announcing the decision. This is because like many fighters they still feel like they are ready to fight and compete again. Jędrzejczyk even went as far as travelling back to train with her old coaches. However, instead of motivating her to fight it had the opposite effect. The trip reminded the former champion why she retired in the first place.
“Honestly, the first eight months after I retired were probably the most difficult months in my life, probably,” Jędrzejczyk revealed. “Because I was thinking every day, I was even calling and texting [UFC CEO] Dana [White], [UFC COO] Hunter [Campbell], my manager, Dan Lambert, my family that I was going to come back.
“Actually, I went to the States — I don’t know if you saw, but I was back to American Top Team in January last year, and I was training really hard for four weeks. I was ready to schedule a fight, but then a super back injury came back, and I had to go through the medical procedure, and I’m still trying to get in shape after a year.”
During her fighting career, Jedrzejczyk had to deal with various injuries, especially back injuries. While Jedrzejczyk would love to make a comeback her body wasn’t going to allow her to pick up the gloves once again.
After dedicating the majority of her life to combat sports and having a successful career in it as well Jędrzejczyk didn’t know anything else. It was noted that after being retired it was not easy to get back into the swing of training once again. This is due to Jędrzejczyk stopping going through the rigorous training camps she used to go through.
Hall of Fame Class
Joanna Jędrzejczyk has had an amazing career inside the octagon which allowed her to clinch the strawweight title. Jędrzejczyk was able to defend the title 6 times against fighters such as Jéssica Andrade, Carla Esparza etc. Jędrzejczyk has had an amazing career which has been rewarded with being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. She will go into the Hall of Fame in June 2024.
While Jędrzejczyk is now retired, she doesn’t live in absolutes. This allows her not to rule out a comeback at some point in the future. However, while she may comeback to mixed martial arts she doesn’t think she will return to the UFC again.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
