The 5 best Strawweight title fights in UFC history

#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.