Joanna Jedrzejczyk Sends Message To Rose Namajunas Before UFC 223

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Joanna Jedrzejczyk sent a message to UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas ahead of their fight at UFC 223 this Saturday. Here are highlights:

On her reaction to a recent loss: “I have a new challenge and I’m very happy. There is no pressure on me. I’m never nervous about fight week, big fights, because the hard work is done so many weeks, days before the fight. I’m enjoying this, and I look at things differently. I used to say that I want to be undefeated, I wanted to retire undefeated. I don’t care about this anymore. I saw that I love my life more, and fighting is just part of my life. People wanted me to, like, be sad, cry, and hide after I lost. No. Guys, you have a job, I have a job to do. It’s part of my life. Soon I will stop fighting and I will do something else. I will be a mother, I will have some businesses, I will do some other stuff, and it’s just part of my life. I’m 100 percent in, but let’s not get crazy. That I lost, it’s not the end of the world. For other people it could be, but not for me.”

On overcoming the fear of losing: “It’s real, and I was afraid of that. And I didn’t know enough, but now I feel like, just deal with it, and I’m not afraid of losing. It’s not going to happen, but I’m not afraid of losing. I want people to see me as a human, that I was not only born for being at the top. I was born for that, but not only for this — I’m real, you can touch me. I’m real, I’m not created. [Dominick Cruz is a] perfect example [of how to deal with a loss]. I want to dedicate this fight to people who have failed, and they don’t have the strength to rise. I want to show to them that even if you fell from the highest [stage], you can rise, you can be back. Take you life in your hands, man. Go through every day and rise. It’s life. It’s life, that’s the thing.”

On fighting Rose: “I don’t want to take anything from Rose, but this is what Mikey Brown said, a legend: It’s easy to win a short fight. It’s nothing bad — people want to see KOs, submissions, short fights, explosive — but going through big wars, that’s the thing. What do you remember? My [favorite] fight is Robbie Lawler, Rory MacDonald. But that’s thing, I want to have a chance to show to people: I’m here for a reason, and I’m back for a reason. And I don’t know, I have so much respect for Rose, it’s going to be interesting if she can do this again, because I’m going to be 100 percent. She won the battle, but she’s not going to win the war. All the respect. Let’s have the best fight of this year, female fight of the year. What about this, Rose?”