Joanna Jedrzejczyk challenged strawweight Zhang Weili at UFC 248 on March 7 in one of the best fights in memory. As the rounds wore on, Jedrzejczyk developed a massive hematoma; she fought on valiantly, but it wasn't pretty.
The injury has now almost wholly healed, and during a recent appearance on the
EuroBash podcast (1:57:00), Jedrzejczyk talked about the ordeal.
“Honestly, I know I’m in a man’s sport, but I don’t think there is a sport for a girl or a sport for a guy – the world is free, it’s the 21st century," said Jedrzejczyk, as transcribed by
Peter Carroll for
MMA FIghting. "I’m a very clean person, my aesthetic, I like to keep it clean. My clothing...I take showers about four or five times a day! I’m very girly, so I hate myself when I’m like this, but that’s the price we have to pay.”
“There’s always a [bad] side to your job ... I hate it, man, I hate it and I want to take care of my health. Being an athlete, being in this sport, it changes your body; it changes your head, your mind; how you look and how you walk. It cost me a lot of sacrifices, changes in my body and I’m still a woman, I want to be attractive. And I want to be a mother in the future so I always want to take care of my health. In the UFC you have everything - good healthcare and they’re always taking good care of us.”
“There are still a few bruises, but I was laughing about the memes after my fight. Even though I cut myself off from social media I was still laughing, but I’m telling you guys from the next day, the swelling in my forehead went down and I couldn’t see out my left eye for two days. I had a vision of only five percent in my left eye - it was pretty rough. It is what it is, the swelling went down."
“I had an X-ray, I had an ultrasound, I had everything. I went to the plastic surgeon in Poland and I small medical procedure on my ear. Everything is good with my head. I’m good!”