Life After UFC: Hall of Famer Joanna Jedrzejczyk Reflects on Career

For Joanna Jedrzejczyk, joining the UFC Hall of Fame is a bittersweet experience.

She is honored, to be sure, but her induction also signifies the end of a chapter, the closing of a door that may never open again.

"That's why I was crying," she said from her home in Poland, recalling the moment the announcement was made during the UFC 299 broadcast earlier this month. "Honestly, there is no day I'm not thinking about coming back.

"I want to stay loyal and stick to my decision [to retire], but it's really difficult.

"I am happy, but there is something missing [without fighting]."

Jedrzejczyk, a former strawweight champion with a record-setting five title defenses on her resume, will be officially inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in June. She will be just the second woman to earn a spot in that hallowed order behind the great Ronda Rousey, who she considers both a friend and a source of inspiration.

It is a development that has felt inevitable to many fans for many years, but one that would have been difficult to imagine when the Polish striker made her first walk to the Octagon way back in July 2014.

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Jedrzejczyk still remembers her debut well, and still considers it the most important moment of her career, despite everything she accomplished in the following years, from her title reign, to her placement on some of the biggest cards in UFC history, such as UFC 193 and 205.

"Yesterday I was trying to organize my stuff from my old apartment, and I found so many pictures from back in the day, from my first [UFC] fight, and from when I won the belt," she said. "I was like, gosh, it's been 10 years since I got to the UFC.

"I always tell people that [my favorite moment of my career] was my UFC debut, and they're like 'why?' It's because this is when everything started.

"Someone gave me a big chance, and my dream was about to come true. [As I walked to the Octagon], I had it in my head that they're letting you shine, J, so shine like the brightest star."

Jedrzejczyk won her UFC debut, defeating Juliana Lima by unanimous decision. Two fights later, she became the second strawweight champion in the promotion's history by stopping Carla Esparza with a second-round volley that commentators compared to the handiwork of a prime Chuck Liddell.

After five defenses, she surrendered the belt to Rose Namajunas, but she competed in three more title fights before she decided to hang up her gloves after a TKO loss to Zhang Weili in June 2022.

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While she admits she still misses fighting and that she may dabble in jiu-jitsu and boxing competition in the future if interesting opportunities arise, she is adamant that she intends to stick to her decision to retire from MMA.

"I retired because I didn't want to ruin my legacy," she said. "I have people like [Jose] Aldo and Conor [McGregor]—there's so many of them—and when they lose, I feel so bad.

"I don't want to do this to my friends, my fans, because I want them to remember me as the greatest," she added, with the caveat that "I deserve to wake up tomorrow and change my mind."

Jedrzejczyk has always kept busy in her life outside of fighting. She has published a cookbook—try the orecchiette with tomatoes, capers and sardines if you can find a copy—as well as two biographies. She filmed a documentary about her career. She runs a foundation called JJ Stars, which has helped many young people across Poland.

Looking to the future, she has plans to travel to destinations like Peru and Hawaii. She also aims to compete in the Dakar Rally and hopes that a good race will help fill the void her retirement from fighting created.

"Last month I was in Finland, I was racing on a frozen lake," she said. "The next step is to go and learn from the best drivers in Dubai, and driving on the desert.

"There is so much more to prove, but I'm investing the money because I want to show my future sponsors and people in general that I'm serious about this."

When she isn't busy with her many projects, Jedrzejczyk enjoys watching the sport that made her a superstar. She's a fan of fellow legends like Amanda Nunes and Holly Holm, who she suspects will follow her into the Hall of Fame in the near future. She likes watching Mackenzie Dern, who she admits she wishes she could have met in a friendly "striker vs. grappler" match before she retired. She also enjoys watching the new generation of female fighters and pointed to flyweight contender Maycee Barber as one of her favorites.

"I'm really impressed by her," the former champ said of Barber. "It's good to see her training and fighting at the highest level. She's legit. She's very strong, she has a good mentality, and she's good on the mic. She's a great person. Definitely, I keep an eye on her."

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It remains to be seen which of the UFC's current crop of young female fighters will end up in the Hall of Fame in the future, but Jedrzejczyk encourages them all to chase their dreams without compromise.

That strategy served her well, after all, and years from now, she hopes fans will remember her for it.

"I want them to remember me as a dreamer who made it," she said. "I want people to remember that no matter what, no matter how you do it, you can make it."