There are gatekeepers to the championship fights - Joanna Jedrzejczyk on why rematches and trilogies are common in the UFC 

Rematches and trilogies are common in the modern-day UFC, and Joanna Jedrzejczyk thinks she knows why that is the case.

According to the former longtime strawweight champion, the elite class of divisions tends to gatekeep title fights, which leads to a series of fights. During an interview with MMA Fighting, the Polish superstar said:

"There's so many upcoming prospects and I'm hearing this all the time, 'She don't deserve this. She doesn't deserve this, that' or 'He doesn't deserve the rematch.' But there are so many upcoming prospects that when they hit the Top 3, Top 5, Top 2... they go down. There's this elite [class], you know what I mean. And of course it gets changed once in a while but there are these like gatekeepers, you know, for the championship fights."

Check out Joanna Jedrzejczyk's comments below:

Jedrzejczyk is gearing up for a rematch with fellow former titleholder Zhang Weili. Should she win, it's reasonable to assume that the 34-year-old could find herself in a position to challenge Rose Namajunas for a third time, despite being down 0-2 against the reigning queen of strawweights.

However, beating Weili will be anything but easy. During their first encounter, Jedrzejczyk suffered a split decision loss to the Chinese fighter after a five-round instant classic.

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Joanna Jedrzejczyk reveals plans for trilogy with Rose Namajunas

Joanna Jedrzejczyk revealed that she already has a date and place in mind for a potential trilogy bout against Rose Namajunas. Asked whether she believes she could fight 'Thug' for a third time, Jedrzejczyk replied:

"I believe yes. I believe, yes, because Rose, she doesn't run away from fights. She knows what it means to be the champ. And yeah, there's a plan to try to [have a trilogy] in Madison Square Garden in November for the belt with Rose Namajunas would be nice."

For now, though, Namajunas is preparing for her own rematch against Carla Esparza at UFC 274 in May. Their first encounter took place in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter season 20 finale way back in 2014. Back then, Esparza submitted Namajunas to become the inaugural UFC strawweight champion.