UFC champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk reveals her retirement plans

Ronda Rousey isn’t the only fighter who sees the light at the end of the tunnel. UFC women’s 115-pound champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is looking ahead to a future when she is no longer competing in the Octagon.

This post-MMA future won’t come after she defends her title at UFC 205 against Karolina Kowalkiewicz nor is it in the near future. But it’s something she’s envisioning.

“I had the thought in my head a year ago, two years ago I was like, ‘I want to fight two more years,’ and then this year I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll fight to next year or next few years and be done with that,’” Jedrzejczyk told MMAjunkie. “I like to be a healthy person. I like to be focused on my things. Now I’m trying to be the best athlete ever. I left my family, my fiance, my friends. I left my everything in Poland, but I’m trying to be the best in the world, and I’m proving that every single day for myself. There are no excuses.”

What the champion wants is to retire unbeaten and still in possession of the strawweight title. After that, she’s interested in starting a family with her fiance.

“When [I retire] I’m going to be the perfect wife or perfect mother. I want to be the same, [giving] 100 percent,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I know I’m not retiring in two months or beginning of the next year because then I will want to come back and have a fight with someone who is important. My goal is to make my dreams come true, my goals come true, and be undefeated. Fight for the next few fights and then see what’s going to happen. That’s my goal.”

Since arriving in the UFC, the 29-year-old from Poland has been nothing short of impressive and ranks on the UFC’s pound-for-pound list. Currently sitting at 12-0, she’ll look to keep her record unblemished against the unbeaten Kowalkiewicz and increase her number of title defenses to four. It’s not far-fetched for Jedrzejczyk to pass Rousey’s title-defense record for a female champion at six and become arguably the greatest female MMA fighter in history.

But, ultimately, the rigors of fighting are wearing on the Polish champion. From weight cutting to injuries, Jedrzejczyk knows that there is a time limit on an MMA career. And she certainly doesn’t want to overstay her welcome and find herself putting her long-term health at risk.

“We have to think about the future,” she said. “I want to be a wife, and I want to be a mother for my kids. I want to be an athlete for the next few years. I want to be a healthy person in the future. We cannot think just about now. We must stay healthy.”

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