Joanna Jedrzejczyk punishes Valerie Letourneau to hold title at UFC 193

Joanna Jedrzejczyk punishes Valerie Letourneau to hold title at UFC 193 and Results: Winner, Scorecard, Reaction from UFC 193

Joanna Jedrzejczyk needed all five rounds to turn away her last challenger as the incumbent strawweight champion won a uncontested decision over Valerie Letourneau in the UFC 193 co-main event.

While many predicted that Jedrzejczyk would invert Letourneau in a lopsided fight, the American Top Team product gave the champion a battle, exceptionally in the opening rounds until she finally started to fade late.
Letourneau was able to take advantage early with a takedown on the best while showcasing her size and power, but it was short lived once the fighters worked back to the feet.

Jedrzejczyk measured her opposition in striking range and unleashed a front kick that blasted Letourneau directly in the face, dazzling her for a moment as she turned away.

Jedrzejczyk jumped in with an assault, but Letourneau was able to grab onto the clinch and exist through the end of the round.

As the second round got underway a mouse started to advance under Letourneau's right eye as she tried to time the champion's striking and counter with some hard punches of her own.

Jedrzejczyk was obviously the more active fighter throughout the second round, but Letourneau's ability to fire back with professional kickboxing kept the Polish strawweight honest and unable to put together many big combinations.

Letourneau maintained her combativeness going into round three, but there was no doubt that she began to slow down as Jedrzejczyk continued to put on stress.

Jedrzejczyk began punishing Letourneau with more and more kicks as the third round ticked away and with a blast of shots to the leg as well as a few more straight up the middle landing to the body.

Jedrzejczyk's capacity to stay active while Letourneau remained flat footed gave her the opening to put together better consolidation. She got more comfortable and her striking got faster and faster as the round came to an end.

By the time the fourth round got ongoing, Jedrzejczyk had landed 31 leg kicks, which showed by the giant welt growing on Letourneau's left lead leg.

Jedrzejczyk extended to jump in to land a few strikes and then bounced right out again and while Letourneau tried severely to land a counter shot, she was just a beat behind the champion's speed.

Jedrzejczyk punished Letourneau frequently but she couldn't find the power shots to put the No. 8-ranked fighter away -- although it wasn't for a scarcity of effort. To her credit, Letourneau never backed down, but as the swelling on her face promote to grow it was clear she was well following on the scorecards.

In the final two minutes, Jedrzejczyk never stopped her horrible onslaught with a series of short elbows inside with Letourneau's cheek taking the brunt of the damage.

When the fight brave to an end, Jedrzejczyk was clearly the winner but she gave Letourneau a nod for being an ultra-tough candidate and sticking around for all five rounds.

The final scores came back 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46 all for the champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

But like the unbeaten Rousey, Poland's fast-handed Jedrzejczyk can systematically break down an aspirant, even if it is later rather than sooner.

Instead of following Rousey's lead for a quick finish, Jedrzejczyk (11-0) wore downward Canadian challenger Valerie Letourneau, who was game through two rounds before succumbing to the activity of the more thoroughly experienced champion.

The judges awarded Jedrzejczyk a unanimous-decision victory in the five-round strawweight contest by scores of 49-46, 49-46, 50-45 at UFC 193 on Sunday in Melbourne, Australia.

In the first round, Jedrzejczyk was taken to the tarp with the eighth-ranked Letourneau grabbing a leg and looking to land some punches. Letourneau (8-4) then pushed Jedrzejczyk to the cage, defusing the champion's rapid punches for awhile.

Jedrzejczyk banged a head-snapping right-footed kick to the challenger's face as an answer, as Letourneau was left with a rim rating not to “stand right there,” because of the champion's speed.

Letourneau smartly kept her distance and absolutely got the better of some of the limited exchanges with Jedrzejczyk in the second.

In the third, Jedrzejczyk hidden a hard right kick to Letourneau's chest, briefly hurting the challenger. Jedrzejczyk's quickness, positioning and timing certainly won her the third, with her jab setting the tone and her kicks swelling the challenger's left leg.

A big right to the look backed up Letourneau in the fourth and despite the urging of Letourneau's corner to seek a takedown, Jedrzejczyk's hits and kicks made such an effort futile. The champion landed 150 head strikes.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk had a great event to gain some recognition as a co-headliner at UFC 193, and she did just that Saturday. The UFC women's strawweight champion successfully protected her belt against Valerie Letourneau in the co-main event in Melbourne, Australia, via unanimous decision.
It wasn't a case of complete domination for the champion this time. Letourneau scored a knockdown in the early going that gave her some time in top restraint in the opening round. However, she eventually let Jedrzejczyk work the feet back to the standing division, where the disparity in skill became evident.

Letourneau did enough in the early going for MMA Fighting to admit it was a 50-50 round, though:
Jedrzejczyk was unable to take command in the second round, either. Letourneau displayed that she was willing to exchange with the champion in the second round, and it paid off in a big way as the two maintained to come up even on the feet.

Bleacher Report MMA noted how influential it was for Letourneau to create things interesting in the early going:
The third round turned out to be a big one for the Polish champion. A heavy intensity on leg kicks paid dividends as she immobilized Letourneau by attacking the lead leg while also landing shots to the head and body.