Joanna Jedrzejczyk lost the UFC Women’s Strawweight Title to Rose Namajunas this past weekend at UFC 217.
It appeared that the former champion tapped out just as the referee was pulling a striking Namajunas off of her during their fight, but Jedrzejczyk insists that she didn’t tap in any way.
“Someone said that I tapped, I never tapped,” Jedrzejczyk said on The MMA Hour. “Are you kidding me? It was probably that I was trying to stand up, but I didn’t. It was a piece of a second for me. I know it took a while – from the punch to the ground and pound when I had the turtle position, but for me it was a like a piece of a second. I know it was a few long seconds. It looks totally different than people think it is. I didn’t tap…I didn’t tap. I heard this, like two times, but come on…I didn’t tap…I didn’t tap. It was probably I was trying to stand up. I didn’t know what was going on at that time probably. My body…I couldn’t get the right balance, you know? I didn’t tap, I never tapped and I didn’t tap.”
Despite the claims made by the former champion, a plethora of videos have sprung up all over the internet showing her tapping on the mat twice.
Here is a Youtube video from MMA POUND4POUND showing the alleged tap out from Jedrzejczyk:
Tap out or not, the former champion still does agree with the referee stopping the fight when he did.
“Of course, I was out, but I don’t know why,” she said. “Maybe there was something wrong with my brain or head, but I don’t know. I will figure out what happened because it’s unusual. I have almost 100 fights in my time in boxing and kickboxing. I had 15 fights in MMA and nothing ever happened before. It was the first time I got cut, someone knocked me down.”
Whether Jedrzejczyk tapped or not, the official result of the fight did go down as a first round TKO victory for Namajunas.
