Over the years, Joanna Jedrzejczyk has forged a reputation for throwing plenty of verbal jabs at her opponents, before the throws real ones at them in the Octagon. Well, leading up to her bout this Saturday with the new strawweight champ, Weili Zhang, none of that’s changed.

Jedrzejczyk calls Zhang a “little girl”

Zhang has been pretty, pretty impressive since she joined the UFC in 2018. After all, since then, the Chinese fighter has gone 4-0 and she needed just 42 seconds to take out Jessica Andrade last August to win the strawweight crown. Further, the 30-year-old is carrying a 20-1 record, which is not too shabby.

But, since Jedrzejczyk was tapped to fight Zhang at UFC 248, she’s let it be known that she’s not that impressed with the rising star. The Polish fighter’s argued that Zhang is lacking technique. She’s also opined that her cardio and toughness will ultimately break the new champ.

Well, following UFC 248’s media day, in which Jedrzejczyk faced off with Zhang, the former champ continued to poke at the strawweight (quotes via MMA Junkie).

“She’s acting like she’s confident,” Jedrzejczyk said. “She’s overconfident – in her eyes, I can see that she’s a little girl. She’s not ready. It’s too much for her. She doesn’t know how to carry herself as a champ, and I will prove that.”

“I see that she is overconfident, she is overcoming and she is getting cocky and arrogant – and she doesn’t want to look in my eyes,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I will do my best to make her quit and beg me to stop. But I know she is very dangerous. Everything and anything can happen. Knockout, submission – but I’m ready to take this war. I’m ready to go through the war.”

How about that? Now, does Zhang seem overconfident or just confident? It could also be the case that Jedrzejczyk’s just saying this, with the hope that the comments get back to Zhang. As noted above, Jedrzejczyk is no stranger to mental warfare.

Crucial fight for the former champ

Saturday’s bout is a compelling one, as Jedrzejczyk’s reign as champion was the longest in the division’s history. So, if Zhang wins, a new era at 115 pounds could very well be ushered in. While talking about how important this weekend’s fight is, Joanna said the following:

“It’s the most important fight of my fighting career, in my life,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I’m very happy to be the challenger and take back what belongs to me – the strawweight belt. It’s been a while. I was the champ for 966 days and it’s been more than 518 days without me having the belt, without me being the champ. It means I was the champ for the reason, and I’m the right person to be the challenger for the strawweight belt.”

It’s going to be really interesting to see how this fight plays out. Can Joanna reclaim the 115 title?

UFC 248 will be hosted by the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.