Despite Swelling, Joanna Avoids Broken Foot

Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s foot looked like a balloon following her win over Michelle Waterson in the main event of UFC Tampa on Saturday.

Yet, despite that and all indications that the foot was broken during the course of the five-round main event, her doctor gave her good news on Sunday.

“It’s good news,” Jedrzejczyk told MMA Fighting on Monday while confirming she didn’t suffer a broken foot after all.

“Both feet are very swollen but it’s good. I’m happy it’s not broken. I don’t need surgery. I will be back faster so I can fight faster.”

“I was really surprised,” Jedrzejczyk said. “All the exams they did before when they touched the foot, they said oh it’s broken, it’s fractured but in the end when after I was at the [emergency room] yesterday morning, they came and told me that it was not broken. I was like really?

“We were all really surprised. But it was good news. It was a good message. I need to rest, get better and I can be back to training sooner than later.”

“After the fourth round, I decided to not kick anymore but in the fifth I did,” Jedrzejczyk said of strategizing around her then thought to be broken foot. “I’m a warrior. I was like if it’s broken, what worse can happen? It’s going to be broken in three or four pieces, they’re going to put it back together in one piece.”

Jedrzejczyk expects her next fight would be against current strawweight champion Weili Zhang, who took the title from Jessica Andrade back in August.

“I wouldn’t have signed this agreement for the fight with Michelle Waterson if my next fight wasn’t going to be for the belt. My next is going to be for the belt,” Jedrzejczyk said. “If they make me wait, I will wait but I sent a strong message with this fight.”

“I think I sent a strong message to all the strawweights that Joanna is back from the edge and they don’t know what to expect,” Jedrzejczyk said. “I fought for three rounds not with a broken foot but a very swollen foot, it was painful but I did my best. I feel like you could see I can adjust. You can have the perfect plan through the first punch but then you have to take the fight second by second.

“I sent a strong message. They don’t know what to expect.”

Report: MMA Fighting