Is Joanna Jędrzejczyk's Biggest Challenge Outside Of The UFC?

There is no speculation that there are many things to be excited for in the UFC strawweight division. The biggest proof deals with it’s current champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk (10-0) who has taken the division by storm and has won her last two fights in dominating fashion. Outside of Joanna and the impending match up between Cláudia Gadelha (12-1) and Jessica Aguilar (19-4), the rest of the division holds a lot of parody as any of the top 10 women could make a run at the gold. Many columnists and reporters fail to acknowledge how deep this talent pool is because most of them are new to the beauty of this division. For those familiar, whether through Invicta FC or say XFC, it is understood that possibly one of the biggest threats to “Joanna Champion” may exist outside of the UFC. With so much invested in the strawweights through TUF 20 and supper upstarts like Paige Van Zant, there is a cloud speculation on who may be the best in the world and we can think of two women not under contract by Zuffa who could fit that bill.

By all means this does not mean that the aforementioned fight between Jag and Gadelha shouldn’t be for a contendership. Both women are equally deserving and many feel that Claudia can actually beat Joanna. Be that as it may the number one factor to behold is the dominance in striking that Jerdrecky holds over her opponents. Similar to the fight with Carla Esparza, Jessica Penne felt an unrelentless assault this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night Berlin. It’s one of the reasons many would like to see a match up with two of the other gifted strikers in the division in Joanne Calderwood and Rose Namajunas. Calderwood unfortunately lost her last outing so that match up for now is some ways to come, even though the UFC is not short on giving title fights after a loss. Rose’s last opponent was unable to compete so for her, it’s almost a wait and see type scenario. Clearly both of these fighters are popular but are also at a level where you would not want to cancel out any potential contenders. The one downside to Joanna many feel is that she is one dimensional (which was also said about Ronda Rousey). If that is the case, then why did she just beat two grapplers? Better yet, one college style wrestler and one with more of a BJJ influence. This means the champion is getting better and possibly the only way to beat her is to outstrike her. The question is who out there is skilled enough to do so?

Karolina Kowalkiewicz (7-0) and Alexa Grasso (7-0) maybe those two fighters. Each woman is truly gifted in striking and posses the speed and pop to give anyone in the division trouble. Currently, both women are outside the top 10 in the world but we feel that’s primarily due to a lack of exposure. If you are a fan of Invicta FC, then you have seen both of these ladies in action and would be reason for you to understand our argument. All one needs to do is look at Karolina’s last two fights between Mizuki Inoue and Kalindra Faria to see the championship ability she posses. Alexa is no slouch either with outstanding performances against Ashley Cummins and a KO victory over Alida Gray. Let’s not overlook the business implications these match ups could provide as well.

The current strawweight champion is from Poland and if she was to face also Polish born Kowalkiewicz, then we are looking at a great fight for an upcoming UFC Poland card. Two top tier athletes from the same country could be huge for the European market. Grasso is becoming more and more popular in Mexico and as we saw at the outstanding turnout in Mexico City, we could see them really giving her a push if she was on a card. Even if to say Aguilar beats Claudia and then Joanna, could you imagine a Mexico City co-main event between Grasso and Aguilar? It would be a phenomenal event.

This is all speculation for the sake of discussion, but don't be surprised if we see this in the near future. We aren't sure of the contract situation Karolina is in and of course Grasso still fights for Invicta. Still, with Invicta FC on UFC fight pass and the UFC using tons of former talent from KSW for their European cards, the ideas aren’t too far fetched. It will be intriguing to see how things play out as we head into 2016. But for now, all we can do is sit back and enjoy the amazing talent in the 115 division.