Dana White encourages Joanna Jedrzejczyk to go back to strawweight

Over the weekend, in the co-main event of UFC 231, former UFC strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk came up short in a flyweight title fight with the fearsome Valentina Shevchenko. Having watched this fight, UFC President Dana White believes Jedrzejczyk is better suited for the strawweight division than she is for the flyweight division.

“I love her, she’s such a great fighter and such a good person,” Dana White said at the UFC 231 post-fight press conference (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I actually consider her a friend. I want her to take some time off, go spend some time with her family and then we’ll get together and talk about it. But I’d like to see her stay at [115 pounds]. “

While Dana White believes Joanna Jedrzejczyk should return to the 115-pound strawweight division, she seems content to stay at flyweight, where the weight-cut is markedly less taxing.

“This camp I realized how it can impact your body, your brain and your performance being on such a strict diet for so many weeks,” she told the media at the UFC 231 post-fight press conference. “Or the weight cut. Definitely, I want to protect myself, protect my body. But yeah, the other stupid thing is I want to do this one more time — that’s it. One more time. We always give second chance to ourselves and I want to do this.”

Although Joanna Jedrzejczyk seems to consider the flyweight division her new home, she does want to fight for the strawweight title once more.

“I must do this for myself and put dot on ‘i,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I will drop one more time to the strawweight division. But I’m not getting younger, I’m getting older. And I’ve been in this business for 15 years, so I want to take care of my body.