UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is well known for her ferocious style inside the Octagon as well as her intimidating stare downs with every opponent she’s faced in the UFC.
Well add verbal warfare to the list of weapons in Jedrzejczyk’s arsenal after she launched an attack on opponent Rose Namajunas on Wednesday during the UFC 217 media conference call.
While Namajunas seemed less than interested in getting into a back and forth war of words, Jedrzejczyk unleashed after the former “Ultimate Fighter” finalist talked about being ready to become champion on Nov. 4.
“Listen, you didn’t want to do media, you didn’t want to do extra media — how are you going to be a champion and deal with all the things?” Jedrzejczyk shouted at Namajunas. “You know what, you are not strong mentally.
“You are mentally unstable and you are broken already and I will break you in the fight.”
Rather than fire back, Namajunas pointed out that her family was ravaged by mental health issues, which is why that’s not a subject she prefers to address in a trash talking battle with the strawweight champion.
According to Namajunas, her father suffered from mental illness so she refuses to use mental health as any kind of hype for her upcoming fight.
“I think there’s a lot of mental instability in this whole country and I think that’s a great reason to fight. I think the world would be a better place if we all just did martial arts and it saved my life so I’m super grateful for it. I’m super grateful for this experience and this opportunity,” Namajunas said.
“I’m not sure if it’s a cultural difference or something like that but for me it’s not something that’s taken lightly. My family has been torn apart. My dad died and he wasn’t in my life because he had schizophrenia and it’s something my entire family has been fighting against since I can remember. This fight means a lot to me and it’s not just about the belt. It’s more than that and I just want to inspire people to f–king do whatever the f–k you want to do. Do what makes you happy and be a good a person and you can overcome anything.”
Of course it’s not uncommon for fighters to question mental readiness ahead of a big event or title fight such as this one.
Jedrzejczyk is no stranger to punishing her opponents at every opportunity before ever stepping into the cage with them and she’s not going to make Namajunas any sort of exception ahead of UFC 217.
“I think that you have some personal problems and I will show you what’s your problem, OK?” Jedrzejczyk said. “You’re never going to be a champion.”
