Perhaps from the way she stood in her corner smiling like she had a secret, we should've known Karolina Kowalkiewicz was about to do something spectacular.
Kowalkiewicz looked calm and composed during the tense moments preceding her co-main event bout against Rose Namajunas at Saturday’s UFC 201. In the end, the confidence she projected proved justified—as Kowalkiewicz weathered a difficult first round and rallied to score a split-decision win (28-29, 29-28, 29-28).
The victory may well make her the surprise No. 1 contender to Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s strawweight title in the coming months.
“I know Joanna, I respect her very much,” Kowalkiewicz told Joe Rogan in the cage after the judges' verdict was announced. “She’s the best in the world, but I want to fight the best and I will beat the best.”
If it happens, it will make Jedrzejczyk’s fourth 115-pound title defense an all-Polish affair.
So, yeah, go ahead and let the name jokes start to flow like wine:
On paper, this bout appeared set up to be the one that would earn Namajunas her second shot at UFC gold.
After garnering a reputation as the woman to beat on Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter, she lost to Carla Esparza in the promotion’s inaugural strawweight title fight back in 2014. Namajunas was just 22 years old at the time, and with so much time left to mature as a martial artist, she was still considered a potential future divisional front-runner.
As if to prove it, she followed the loss to Esparza by ripping off three straight wins. A meeting with the undefeated but relatively unheralded Kowalkiewicz was meant to be the capper on that run.
As has been the trend in the UFC of late, it ended up going the opposite way.
The fight started well enough for Namajunas. She came out of her corner looking fluid and light on her feet. As Kowalkiewicz pushed forward, Namajunas countered nicely with snapping punching combos as well as the occasional leg kick.
With under a minute to go in the first round, however, Kowalkiewicz caught Namajunas in the clinch and uncorked a series of stiff knees to the body. While Namajunas likely still took that round on the judges’ scorecards, the late exchange began to shift the momentum and turned out to be a preview of what was to come.
Kowalkiewicz controlled the second stanza, doing her best work when she could force the fight into close range. The pair spent the bulk of the round pressed against the fence, where Kowalkiewicz’s thudding body shots appeared to sap Namajunas’ cardio. The accumulation of blows prompted the 24-year-old Milwaukee native to try to take the fight to the ground, but with little success.
The third round was the closest of the fight. It saw Namajunas attempt to keep the action at range, where she could continue to touch Kowalkiewicz with combinations. Midway through the round, however, Kowalkiewicz sent Namajunas topping to the canvas during a flurry near the fence.
During the ensuing scramble on the ground, she wound up in top position. Most of the rest of the fight stayed there, with Kowalkiewicz avoiding Namajunas’ submission attempts and pestering her with enough strikes to salt away the victory.
“I feel really great,” Kowalkiewicz told Rogan moments later. “It’s my dream come true and now I want a fight with Joanna Jedrzejczyk. I am ready.”
Kowalkiewicz improved her spotless record to 10-0 overall, 3-0 in the UFC, but whether she’s truly ready for Jedrzejczyk remains to be seen. The two met in an amateur bout in Poland years ago, and Jedrzejczyk emerged with the submission win.
Since coming to the UFC, Jedrzejczyk (12-0, 6-0) has been in a class by herself.
On July 8, her latest fight included a hard-fought win over longtime rival Claudia Gadelha. In that bout, Jedrzejczyk looked vulnerable to Gadelha’s hard-nosed grappling attack for the first two rounds, but she won the day with her superior pace, cardio and striking game.
As Gadelha wilted in the later rounds, the champion began to pour it on, picking Gadelha apart with her trademark striking skills, and scored the unanimous-decision win. The lasting impression it left was that Jedrzejczyk is still going to be very hard to knock from her throne.
If Kowalkiewicz means to match stand-up skills with the champion, she might be in for a very long night indeed. Jedrzejczyk's pinpoint accuracy, relentless aggression and near peerless kickboxing skills have established her among the best technical fighters in the UFC.
Stylistically, at least, their fight would have all the makings of a crowd-pleasing war. To have success, however, it seems a good bet Kowalkiewicz would have to opt for a different, potentially better-rounded game plan that she did against Namajunas.
The loss dropped the popular American fighter to 5-3 overall, 3-2 UFC.
While she remains very young, this defeat undermines any momentum Namajunas had built for herself in her recent appearances. She came into the fight as the third-ranked strawweight contender, according to the UFC's official rankings, and is still young and talented enough to work her way back into future title eliminators.
For now, however, we assume Poland will have the immediate title picture all to itself.
If Kowalkiewicz and Jedrzejczyk do meet up next, we'll see if Kowalkiewicz can be such a cool customer when confronted by the best in the world.
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