UFC Fight Night 69: Jedrzejczyk vs Penne

Joanna Jedrzejczyk (9-0-0) vs. Jessica Penne (12-3-0)

The undefeated fighter and current Strawweight Champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, puts her title on the line against Jessica Penne at UFC Fight Night 69 in Germany.

Jedrzejczyk gets to stay in Europe to defend her belt as she has yet to lose a match in her young career. The 27-year-old made her way to the UFC circuit in mid-2014 and has fought three times; winning twice after going a full three rounds by decision and took down the title with knockout punches against Carla Esparza in March of this year. She was a Muay Thai champion in International Federation of Muay Thai Amateur, winning the gold each year from 2009-2013 and has used those skills to dominate in the octagon. Fight Matrix has her listed as the No. 2 women’s strawweight fighter, sitting only behind Jessica Aguilar, and the Polish-born competitor is considered the sixth-best pound-for-pound women fighter. She will get Jessica Penne in her first defense of the title and the 5’5”, 115-pound fighter just made her return back to the strawweight class in her last fight and was able to take down Ronda Markos in a split decision, earning “Fight of the Night” honors in the process. It was her UFC debut as most of her recent bouts were for Invicta where she was the Atomweight Champion. A majority of Penne’s victories come on the mat as the Huntington Beach, CA native has earned seven of her 12 wins via submission thanks to her experience in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Jedrzejczyk has dominated in two of her three UFC matches to start her career there, out striking Esparaza and Juliana Lima 99-22 and getting 3.49 significant strikes per minute overall. There was some controversy in her second win in this circuit, though, when a split decision went her way in the fight with Claudia Gadelha after she outhit her opponent 38-27, but was taken down seven times with one submission attempt against. Many thought that it was Gadelha’s fight, but the decision went to Jedrzejczyk and was able to go for the title as a result. Her defense has been phenomenal in her three UFC fights, allowing opponents to get in a mere 1.25 significant strikes per minute as she deflects 71% of their attempts. She has yet to earn a takedown of her own in the three matches, and has defended opponents attempts at a takedown 80% of the time, but has still hit the mat a total of nine times. She will put her title at risk against a more experienced fighter, and if she has a close one like she did against Gadelha, she is sure to get a different final result.

Penne is currently ranked eighth by Fight Matrix amongst her peers in the strawweight division after winning four of her past five fights. Despite doing well in that time between UFC and Invicta, she has actually gotten in only 1.94 significant strikes per minute at a putrid 32% accuracy. Her defense has been ok, but she is taking on more hits (2.33 significant strikes per minute) than she is dishing out and is only deflecting 52% of them. Her biggest strength and the key to winning this match is getting her opponents on the mat and then coming away with a submission. She has nine takedowns in her last five fights and has an overall takedown percentage of 42%. Penne does all her dirty work once getting her opposition down and in her most recent victory over Markos was able to get eight passes, a deciding factor in the final decision. Penne will need to put Jedrzejczyk on the floor early, because if she lets the fight go deep, she will likely take too many hits and not have a chance.