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In what is being regarded as a shocking turn of events, it was recently reported that former UFC strawweight champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk has said that she might not be able to make the 115-pound weight limit for her main event bout against Michelle Waterson at UFC Fight Night 161 this weekend in Tampa. The “Karate Hottie” Waterson has refused to meet her at catch-weight.
However, giving fight fans some hope, ESPN reporter Ariel Helwani stated that Joanna will do everything she possibly can to try and make weight as she does not want the fight to be canceled.
“I’m told Joanna Jędrzejczyk had a good workout this AM and does not want the fight to get canceled after Team Waterson made it clear that Michelle is not interested in a catch-weight. JJ has decided to do everything — within reason — to make 116.”
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'Karate Hottie' not up for a catch-weight bout
Since the “Karate Hottie” would not budge into accepting a catch-weight fight, opponent Joanna Jedrzejczyk will be forced to attempt a scary weight cut in order to be able to make weight for the main event.
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News about Joanna failing to make weight leaves Waterson 'disheartened'
On hearing the news of Joanna failing to make weight, Waterson claimed that she was 'disheartened' as well as 'disappointed' and that she took this fight because she intends to go on to challenge the current UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang for the title.
'“I heard that Joanna was having trouble making weight and that she wanted to renegotiate the contract at 120 [pounds]. I took this fight under the assumption that we were both in contention for the strawweight belt, and to me, that’s a very serious undertaking. There’s only a couple things you have to do as a fighter, and one of them is make weight. My intention is to fight for the strawweight belt—not for the flyweight belt, not for the featherweight belt. The 115 belt.” - Waterson told MMA Fighting.
The stakes are really high as the winner of this fight is expected to move to go on to challenge the reigning women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang, who captured the strawweight gold with a first-round devastation of Jessica Andrade back in August.
Jedrzejczyk still believes she will make the cut
Despite all the speculation around her in the media, Jedrzejczyk seems unnerved about the whole situation and remains confident that she will make weight come Friday. According to her, talks about her missing weight is premature as the UFC Tampa weigh-ins are scheduled for Friday morning, which will give her plenty of time to shed the excess weight.
“Did I miss something? Did I miss the weigh-ins today or what? Because the weigh-ins are on Friday. I don’t know what’s going on, the weigh-ins are on Friday and you’re all worried. The fight is on, the weigh-ins are on Friday. Keep it calm, guys. All fine, step-by-step. I will see you there.” - said the former champ on Instagram.
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