Jedrzejczyk outpoints Kowalkiewicz to retain strawweight title

Joanna Jedrzejczyk can continue to go by "Joanna Champion" a little while longer.

Jedrzejczyk defeated Karolina Kowalkiewicz by unanimous decision to successfully defend the strawweight title at UFC 205 in New York City on Saturday. The Muay Thai experts traded leather through five rounds, but the champ handily outlanded the challenger to take all three scorecards by 49-46 tally and remain undefeated.

The 29-year-old used Kowalkiewicz's aggression against her from Rounds 1 to 3, unleashing a litany of combinations anytime the challenger plodded into the line of fire or engaged in a clinch, which was often.

Jedrzejczyk appeared destined to cruise to victory after the first two frames, as Kowalkiewicz had already absorbed nearly 100 of a mixed bag of kicks, punches, and elbows going into the third. Not to be easily vanquished, the challenger nearly pulled off an upset in the fourth, when she staggered Jedrzejczyk with a right hand to the button, but her fellow Pole proved her championship-level mettle in regaining her senses by round's end.

The champion's fourth successful title defense doubles as Kowalkiewicz's first career loss in 11 pro fights, spoiling her chance to avenge the submission loss she suffered at Jedrzejczyk's hands as an amateur in 2012. She may have been beaten at her own game, but the 31-year-old challenger exited the Octagon with a raised stock, if only by virtue of the undying pressure she applied and her willingness to absorb whatever Jedrzejczyk threw her way.

Kowalkiewicz now holds a UFC record of 3-1.