The 5 best Strawweight title fights in UFC history

It’s been almost five years now since the UFC introduced the Strawweight division via the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter, and you’d find it hard to track down anyone who could claim it hasn’t been a massive success.

Not only have the 115lbers put on some incredibly exciting fights over those years, but the division has also created some of the UFC’s most recognisable stars, from Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Paige VanZant to Rose Namajunas and Michelle Waterson.

This weekend sees current champ Jessica Andrade defend her title against Weili Zhang in the main event of UFC Fight Night 157, in what will be the 11th Strawweight title fight – and if the fight turns out to be as good as the following 5, the fans in attendance will be in for a treat.

Here are the 5 best Strawweight title fights in UFC history.

#5: Carla Esparza vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk – UFC 185

Joanna Jedrzejczyk destroyed Carla Esparza in dominant fashion

The fans at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas were in for a shock when Carla Esparza defended her newly minted UFC Strawweight title against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 185. Esparza had won the inaugural title through a tournament on The Ultimate Fighter, finally defeating Rose Namajunas. The wrestler and submission expert hadn’t really been troubled in her 4 fights during the show, already held Invicta’s Strawweight title and hadn’t lost since mid-2011.

Her opponent, Polish kickboxer Joanna Jedrzejczyk, was far less heralded despite being 8-0, and was coming off a contentious decision over top contender Claudia Gadelha. With questions around Jedrzejczyk’s ground game, the fight seemed likely to be a pedestrian title defence for Esparza in a potentially long reign.

That couldn’t have been further from the truth, though. Esparza looked nervy coming into the fight and once it became clear that she couldn’t get Jedrzejczyk off her feet, she became a sitting duck for the challenger’s violent brand of high-volume striking. Jedrzejczyk tore into her for two rounds before the referee mercifully stopped proceedings in the second, with Esparza out on her feet.

It was a stunningly dominant showing for the Polish fighter and it ushered in a new era for the Strawweight division, even before a single successful title defence had been made.

#4 Rose Namajunas vs. Jessica Andrade – UFC 237

Rose Namajunas was slammed unconscious by Jessica Andrade, ending her title reign

UFC 237’s Strawweight title fight between champion Rose Namajunas and challenger Jessica Andrade wasn’t the most alluring for casual fans, but for hardcore fans, it presented a serious question: how could Namajunas, who had somehow defeated the seemingly unstoppable Joanna Jedrzejczyk twice, deal with the power and brute force of ‘Bate Estaca’?

As it turned out, she dealt with it pretty well for a round at least. In an exciting opening stanza, Andrade came out as she’d always done – like a human buzzsaw, winging her trademark combinations towards ‘Thug Rose’ – but Namajunas proved her worth by avoiding the majority of the shots and using her movement and timing to hurt the challenger with her own strikes, cutting her under the left eye.

Andrade scored a couple of takedowns, but couldn’t really advance her position from there either, and as the round came to an end, she found herself knocked down by a hard knee from Namajunas, who had her in real trouble for the first time in her Strawweight run. Going into the second, the advantage lay with the champ.

The second round started in the same way, with ‘Thug Rose’ deftly avoiding Andrade’s charge to land counters, and once again the Brazilian decided to go for a takedown. Namajunas had seen success in the first round by countering the takedown with a kimura attempt – like Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba had done so many times – but this time, it turned out to be an error.

When Namajunas laced Andrade’s arm up and refused to let go, ‘Bate Estaca’ lived up to her nickname, lifting her high into the air before slamming her down to the ground, directly onto her head. ‘Thug Rose’ was knocked senseless by the impact, and in one of the craziest finishes in the history of the division, another new champion was crowned.

#3 Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz – UFC 205

Karolina Kowalkiewicz hurt Joanna Jedrzejczyk in their fight, but couldn't finish her off

UFC 205 was one of the promotion’s biggest ever cards – their first in the state of New York – and with three title fights on the card including a champion vs. champion match in the form of Eddie Alvarez vs. Conor McGregor, the Strawweight title fight between champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz was flying under the radar, despite being the first time two Polish fighters had battled over a UFC title.

Early on, it looked like business as usual for Jedrzejczyk, who was making her 4th title defense. Kowalkiewicz seemed determined to stand and strike with the dangerous kickboxer, and while it was clear that she wasn’t being outclassed as previous victims like Carla Esparza and Jessica Penne had been, she wasn’t exactly having too much success either. By the end of the third round, Jedrzejczyk had built a clear lead and it seemed like the fight was in the bag.

The 4th round changed everything, though. Kowalkiewicz evidently figured she had nothing to lose and came out swinging for the fences – and to everyone’s shock, she landed a huge right hand that sent Jedrzejczyk crashing down to the canvas. Somehow though, the champion managed to pull herself up and fired back, and suddenly the fans in Madison Square Garden were treated to an absolute firefight.

In the end, Jedrzejczyk managed to do enough to take the fight over again, and was able to clearly outpoint Kowalkiewicz by taking the final round. She retained her title with a unanimous decision, but the truth was that it was Kowalkiewicz who had captured everyone’s imagination by dropping the seemingly unstoppable champ in the 4th round – and it was that knockdown that turned the fight from a standard title defense into an instant classic.

#2 Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Rose Namajunas – UFC 217

Nobody saw Rose Namajunas's knockout of Joanna Jedrzejczyk coming

During the UFC’s previous visit to Madison Square Garden a year prior to UFC 217, Joanna Jedrzejczyk had come closer than ever to losing her Strawweight crown to Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Since then though, she’d looked stronger than ever in a dominant showing against the dangerous Jessica Andrade, and it felt like her next challenger – Rose Namajunas – would represent nothing more than another victim.

After all, ‘Thug Rose’ had lost to Kowalkiewicz the year prior and had never really displayed anything to suggest she could unseat the champion, despite clearly having a lot of raw talent. But when UFC 217 rolled around, it was clear that Namajunas was taking the opportunity seriously – she was stone-faced throughout the build to the show, nothing but business on her mind.

Even before the fight began there was a sense that something crazy was about to happen; Namajunas shoved the mean-mugging Jedrzejczyk away during the pre-fight staredown. Moments later, Jedrzejczyk was on the mat, knocked down by an early right hand from the challenger in a flashback to the Kowalkiewicz fight. But like then, she wasn’t out and managed to get back to her feet.

The fans seemed to expect Jedrzejczyk to reset and fire back, but it wasn’t to be – this time, Namajunas had her timing down perfectly, and when Joanna attempted to exchange, ‘Thug Rose’ caught her with a clean left hook that sent her crashing down – and this time, she wouldn’t get up.

Whether Joanna took Rose lightly, or whether she had a bad weight cut remain question marks – although Namajunas did prove her worth by defeating the former champion in an immediate rematch – but regardless, this was one of the greatest upsets in UFC history and one of the most memorable title wins in the history of the promotion, too.

#1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Claudia Gadelha – TUF XXIII Finale

Joanna Jedrzejczyk's war with Claudia Gadelha remains the best title fight in UFC Strawweight history

Despite defeating Jessica Penne and Valerie Letourneau in her first two title defenses, only one fighter seemingly had the potential to test Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the early years of the UFC Strawweight division – Brazil’s Claudia Gadelha. Jedrzejczyk had torn through every opponent she’d faced in her UFC run, but Gadelha had taken her to a split decision in 2014 – Joanna’s last fight before winning the title – and many fans actually felt she’d deserved the nod.

It was therefore inevitable that a rematch between the duo – with the title on the line – would be booked at some stage, and sure enough, after Gadelha defeated the highly rated Jessica Aguilar, a title fight with Jedrzejczyk was finally made for the finale of the 23rd season of The Ultimate Fighter - a season that would also see the two coach rival teams against one another.

Unsurprisingly, the rivalry only grew between the two during the TUF tapings, as the confident Jedrzejczyk talked trash non-stop towards her future opponent. But could the fight live up to the hype generated by the reality show? The answer was yes – and then some.

It was actually Gadelha who came out of the gates quicker, surprising Jedrzejczyk with a counter left hand that knocked her down in the opening seconds. Joanna looked more stunned than hurt, but it set the tone for a dominant round for the challenger, who threatened on the ground with submissions following a pair of takedowns, and also landed the better shots standing.

Gadelha continued her hot start in the second round, again landing the better strikes and also scoring with another takedown and some strong groundwork, too. But after the round, it became clear who the advantage truly lay with – Jedrzejczyk still seemed fresh, while Gadelha looked on the verge of exhaustion.

Sure enough, despite giving up another couple of takedowns in the third, the Polish champion found her range and began to snipe at Gadelha with vicious, clean combinations, even shrugging off a heavy elbow strike from the Brazilian. The fourth round, in particular, was one-sided in favor of Jedrzejczyk, as she hit Gadelha with a ridiculous amount of combinations, busting her up and almost finishing her at one point. The fifth was largely academic, and at the end of a 25-minute war, Jedrzejczyk had once again defended her title.

The fight remains the best title fight in UFC Strawweight history for a couple of reasons; firstly, it was the culmination of a big rivalry and when it came down to it, the fight lived up to the build when so many other similarly built fights had failed. Secondly, it was probably the high point of both women’s careers in the UFC – although they’ve both picked up big wins since, neither has seemed quite the same – the mark of a truly violent and potentially career-changing war. Simply put, this was a genuine classic.