- Joanna Jedrzejczyk is recovering from the brutal five-round war she narrowly lost to the UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang on Saturday.
- Jedrzejczyk needs plastic surgery in the coming days and had to have a cauliflower ear drained.
- In her first interview since the fight five days ago, she told MMA Fighting that "the swelling is going down."
- Jedrzejczyk said: "I feel great."
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Joanna Jedrzejczyk said "the swelling is going down" five days after a brutal UFC fight with Weili Zhang which left both athletes disfigured.
Speaking to MMA Fighting in her first interview since her narrow loss to the UFC strawweight champion Zhang at the UFC 248 event in the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, on Saturday, Jedrzejczyk said she had a cauliflower ear which needed draining and is due for cosmetic surgery.
Other than that, she apparently feels fine.
"I feel great," Jedrzejczyk said.
Jedrzejczyk, like Zhang, was taken to hospital after the 25-minute war which contained 783 combined strikes thrown from both competitors.
Both were bruised, with Jedrzejczyk looking unrecognizable because of a bent nose and a hematoma on either side of her forehead.
Though she was discharged because her injuries were not deemed significant, she, like Zhang, was given a two-month medical suspension from professional fighting.
Since her discharge, she's been trying to take things easy. "I'm trying to relax as much as I can with my family. On Friday, I fly back home. I cannot wait to get back home and relax with my family and friends. I feel great.
"The swelling is going down," Jedrzejczyk, who flies to Poland for plastic surgery in the coming days, said.
"The UFC took really good care of me. I met with the doctor on Monday. Everything is fine. I have a small surgery on Monday in my ear in my Poland with one of the best plastic surgeons in the business.
"I have a cauliflower [ear] so they drained it [at the Emergency Room] right after the fight. It looks very bad. So that's it.
"I'm waiting on the swelling to go down. It will probably take a few more days but it's getting better every day.
"After that, I will do some exams again just to make sure everything is okay, but so far, so good."
Though photographs of Jedrzejczyk's face in the aftermath of the bout went viral, the fight itself was wildly competitive and could have gone either way.
Her trainer Mike Brown of the American Top Team in Florida, is already campaigning for an immediate rematch.
- Read more:
- Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk deserve $10 million for fighting until disfigured, according to a UFC middleweight
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk's trainer wants an immediate rematch between his fighter and Weili Zhang
- Watch the UFC slo-mo footage showing the punches that disfigured Joanna Jedrzejczyk's face
- Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk both looked disfigured after a brutal, bloody UFC war
- Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk given 2-month medical suspensions after their 25-minute war
- A women's MMA fight in Invicta FC was so bloody it looked like the fighters had been in the cage with a bear
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