UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk will be heading into the biggest title defense of her career when she faces Karolina Kowalkiewiecz at UFC 205, but she's undergoing a lot of personal changes, which include hiring a new manager and getting paid.
Jedrzejczyk recently parted ways with longtime manager Tiago Okamura, and she's willing to talk to any manager that may want her services.
"I am waiting for a good offer," Jedrzejczyk said. "Bring me some money, and that’s all what I want from my manager. I’m here. I’m in the U.S."
While some may not like the idea of the champion parting ways with her longtime manager, Jedrzejczyk explains why it was a good move.
"We’re still friends, I like Tiago Okamura so much," she said to MMA Fighting. "But I decided to change something in my life and…you know, sometimes you need to change something in your life to go higher. I want to work with the best people in the world because I’m the best in the world. I want to retire as a champion, and this is my goal. This is my dream. And mark my word, because I’m going to do this. People are afraid of changes, and afraid to change in their life. But they like to complain. I don’t like to complain, I like to work. So it wasn’t easy for me to leave my gym or my coaches or my manager, but I want to keep on growing."
A persistent rumor circulating through the MMA community was that the reasons Jedrzejczyk parted ways with her longtime manager is that he also represents fellow strawweight title contender Jessica Andrade.
"I don’t know," she said. "I don’t know…no, I can face Jessica. I can face anyone. I spoke Tiago about that, because I left him like a month ago, or a few weeks ago. But we’ve been talking about what’s going to happen, if I’m going to face Jessica. He was mine and her manager at the time, so, a fight is a fight. We must take this serious. Jessica is a very strong fighter," she said. "Her boxing is on point, her jiu-jitsu is very good, she’s very strong. She dropped from 135, so she’s very strong for the 115 pound division."
UFC 205 will take place on Saturday, November 12 from Madison Square Garden in New York, New York with Eddie Alvarez and Conor McGregor headlining.
