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Jedrzejczyk expects to dominate 'not very technical' Zhang

Cooper Neill / UFC / Getty

Joanna Jedrzejczyk thinks her title fight against UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili will play out similarly to one of the most dominant wins of her career.

The former champ cruised past Jessica Andrade in a 2017 title defense, and she sees herself doing the same versus Zhang at UFC 248 on March 8.

"They (Zhang and Andrade) both are are very similar fighters,” Jedrzejczyk said on the "UFC Unfiltered" podcast. “Going forward, throwing loopy punches, looking for good wrestling, like strong wrestling. They’re not very technical fighters but they’re very, very strong, so I think this fight is going to be very similar. I will have to cut the angles, slip, counter, use my timing, my length, my reach."

Jedrzejczyk defended the 115-pound belt five times before dropping it to Rose Namajunas in November 2017, and she believes her experience will give her the edge against Zhang.

"She’s so big. She's big. She’s huge and she throws very hard punches," Jedrzejczyk said of the Chinese titleholder. "But I’m more experienced. I've been through these championship bouts so many times, so I’m a real five-rounder."

Zhang finished Andrade in 42 seconds last August to capture the strawweight title in only her fourth Octagon appearance.

Jedrzejczyk is 2-2 since dropping the title just over two years ago. The Polish fighter lost a rematch with Namajunas in April 2018, but then bounced back with a win over Tecia Torres.

The 32-year-old moved up in weight to face Valentina Shevchenko for the vacant women's flyweight title in December 2018 and lost by decision. She returned to strawweight and defeated Michelle Waterson in the UFC Tampa main event last October.

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