Sherdog.com’s 2015 Fighter of the Year

3. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

It is hard to imagine a world where UFC women’s strawweight champion Jedrzejczyk is not the face of women’s MMA. Yet there we were at the beginning of 2015, when Jedrzejczyk was neither the preeminent female fighter nor the face of her own division. Oh, how things can change in a year.

By the end of 2014, Jedrzejczyk was an undefeated prospect with two UFC wins to her name, but she was far from a household name. Meanwhile, the UFC’s newest addition, the women’s 115-pound division, was hot off the success of “The Ultimate Fighter 20.” The show was the first season in a long time that was actually interesting, and it crowned the inaugural UFC champion. Carla Esparza claimed that title, and her exposure on the show made her the name to know for the upstart division at the turn of the New Year. Meanwhile, Jedrzejczyk closed 2014 with a controversial split decision win over Claudia Gadelha in a fight that barely registered on the radar of most casual fans. By no means were the cosmos aligned for the Polish princess’ path to stardom.

As debatable as her win against Gadelha was, the victory ensured a title shot for Jedrzejczyk. She squared off against Esparza at UFC 185 in March as a slight underdog. Not only was Esparza more recognizable from her time on “The Ultimate Fighter,” but her experience and chain-wrestling style seemed to matchup with the Polish muay Thai stylist. Jedrzejczyk was confident before the fight, introducing the world to one of the best shticks in the sport: her weigh-in gifts. She gave Esparza, nicknamed “The Cookie Monster,” a cookie. A day later, she gave her a hellacious beating, and a star was born.

Jedrzejczyk got right back into the mix, defending her belt just three months after wresting control of it. This time, it was against Jessica Penne, and this time, Jedrzejczyk was the overwhelming favorite. Despite those differences, “Joanna Champion” brought the same sense of flair to the fight; she gave Penne a necklace made out of penne pasta, and she still crouched down to get in Penne’s face in her trademark awesomely awkward staredown. Penne rejected the gift, but she could not escape the venomous striking clinic in the Octagon. Jedrzejczyk put way Penne in the third round and became the first person to defend the title. She did so in spectacular, dramatic fashion.

As the UFC’s end-of-year #GoBig season was unveiled, Jedrzejczyk had a prominent feature on the marquee UFC 193 card. Though it was headlined by Ronda Rousey, Jedrzejczyk was in a bigger spotlight than ever before. She was an even bigger favorite than she was against Penne, and while she did not grace the weigh-ins with a gift for Valerie Letourneau, she was still met by a ravenous, record-setting crowd in Australia. “Joanna Champion” landed 220 significant strikes across five rounds, despite breaking her hand during the fight. It was her second defense of the year, the same year in which she won the belt, and none of those title fights left any doubt as to who the best strawweight fighter in the world is.

With the fall of Rousey, no female fighter is positioned to take up that mantle quite like Jedrzejczyk. Her charm, her charisma and her unique personality set her apart in a sport of carbon copies. Mostly, though, she is an incredibly talented fighter. At 28 years of age, it looks like she is just getting started. Expect her to be back.

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