Jędrzejczyk vs. Létourneau

This is the official discussion thread for Jędrzejczyk vs. Létourneau. Let's see what you've got.

Rumors are swirling that the UFC wants JJ on 193 under Ronda, pushing Gadelha out, since she won't be ready before early 2016. Entered both bouts as rumored for now.

I almost never complain about fights but this fight is just ****.Two fights ago Letourneau would have lost to the 1-5 Jessica Rakoczy if Jess has an ounce of fight IQ.Split decision vs Elizabeth Phillips,loses to Roxanne Modaferri on TUF in the 1st.She beat's an totally overhyped girl and they put her in with the champ?I don't know why this fight bothers me,i'd literally rather see Joanne fight anyone else.I hope this ends up just a rumor.

Plus Val has a tough time making 115 because she's a natural flyweight forcing her way down.

Why is Letourneau getting the title shot?  Because she beat Moroz?  Why not give Joanne Calderwood, Jessica Aguilar, or Carla Esparza the shot? Why not bring in Livia Souza from Invicta to fight for the belt?  At least with a Joanna vs Souza fight, you could bill it as a Champion vs Champion bout.  This makes no sense.  Letourneau is a promising prospect in the Strawweight division (especially after her victory over Moroz), but she is nowhere near ready to fight for the title yet.  Joanna is going to breeze through this fight.

* Edited at 09.04.2015, 12:32 PM ET *

They want to put Jędrzejczyk on the same card as Ronda. Letourneau will be ready by UFC 193 and is on a multiple win streak in the SW division. Makes sense to me.

"Why is Letourneau getting the title shot? Because she beat Moroz?"

Yes. Gadelha was the original plan and Moroz the back up plan in case she for some reason was again unable to fight. And Moroz lost to Létourneau pretty decisively.

"Why not give Joanne Calderwood"

Got owned by Moroz, who in turn lost to Valérie.

"Jessica Aguilar"

Coming off a loss.

"or Carla Esparza the shot?"

Got owned by Joanna, hasn't fought since.

"Why not bring in Livia Souza from Invicta to fight for the belt?"

Probably tied up with the contract since winning the belt. In a lot of cases the promoters put a clause in a fighters' contract that if they win a belt, they are obliged to have an x number of defenses (provided of course they don't lose it before the contract runs out).

"At least with a Joanna vs Souza fight, you could bill it as a Champion vs Champion bout.  This makes no sense.  Letourneau is a promising prospect in the Strawweight division (especially after her victory over Moroz), but she is nowhere near ready to fight for the title yet.  Joanna is going to breeze through this fight"

She would also breeze through the others you mentioned and she already did that to Esparza. Valérie is on a 4 fight winning streak including a win over a highly (although unjustly) hyped Moroz and she only lost a split to Gadelha. The UFC wanted an SW title defense in 2015 and Joanna wanted one more fight before the year ends and since Gadelha is - again - unable to fight and their back up plan (Moroz) just lost, she is the one that makes the most sense. Yes, she will get beat pretty badly, but all the others would too (or have been in case of Esparza) and Valérie has the most solid claim to a title shot.

This fight is fine. Gadelha obviously deserves the shot, but if she can't fight right now, Letrourneau fighting the belt is fine. She has been quietly climbing the ranks.

* Edited at 09.04.2015, 1:06 PM ET *

@unbeknownst  Letourneau's three wins were decision victories; one of which was a close split decision against Elizabeth Philips, and another was a unanimous decision victory over a fighter in Jessica Rakoczy that had a record of 1-4.  Those victories, to me at least, aren't impressive enough to merit a title shot; regardless of her upset victory over Moroz.  That's not to say her victory over Moroz doesn't boost her resume as a fighter.  Couple that victory with another one over a high profile opponent like Juliana Lima, Carla Esparza, Jessica Aguilar, or Joanne Calderwood and I could easily see an argument to give Letourneau a title shot. 

* Edited at 09.04.2015, 1:57 PM ET *

@joe_kerr

I agree with you about Moroz being over hyped.  Moroz was nowhere near ready for a title shot heading into the Letourneau fight.  IMO, even if Moroz beat Letourneau, she still should have had to face another opponent.  And I get that the whole Gadelha getting injured made finding another contender rather difficult and everyone that is ranked below her other than Letourneau (Calderwood, Esparza, Aguilar, etc.) have less impressive resumes at this point in time.  I also understand that there is a contractual obligation to have JJ defend her belt one more time in 2015.

However, this hasn't stopped the UFC before in how they make match ups for the belt before.  Remember the Condit - Lawler title fight that was supposed to main event UFC 193 before Lawler broke his thumb?  Condit leapfrogged Hendricks and Woodley to get that title fight; even though he has had one fight since his 17 month injury hiatus (which was a win against an unranked Thiago Alves) AND lost to both Hendricks and Woodley prior to his injury hiatus.  Yet, not many people cried hoopla over Condit getting the title shot (other than maybe Hendricks and Woodley).  In fact, many people (including myself) were (and still are) excited for it.

Furthermore, Alexander Gustafsson is coming off a loss to Anthony Johnson and yet he is going to be fighting Daniel Cormier for the Light Heavyweight title; instead of Ryan Bader, who has a 4 fight win streak.  And again, no one is throwing a tantrum over the fact Bader didn't get the title shot.  People are more excited to see Gustafsson fight for the belt again.

So what would be the issue if the UFC delayed giving the title shot to Letourneau and gave it to someone like Jessica Aguilar?  Granted this may be a situation of comparing apples to oranges; in which the strawweight division is a new division with very few well known fighters, so the whole "name value over resume" guff is irrelevant to organizing this title fight; which I would completely understand.  Other than that, would it really be that big of a deal to make Letourneau wait for her title shot and give her another high profile opponent to build her up? 

* Edited at 09.04.2015, 2:01 PM ET *

Moroz beat Jojo and took her spot in the top 10, Valerie beat Moroz, Joanna wants to fight, Gadelha can't.

Pretty simple.

This division's pretty deep with talent and prospects, but as of now, not as deep with immediate contenders (Thug Rose and Jojo were "supposed to be" those but they lost).

Of course you could argue Tecia Torres or Randa Markos may be closer but even if they are, Moroz' win over Jojo basically puts her in the same spot as them and Valerie pretty much owned her.

Would you rather have a stagnant champ? Don't we have enough of those?

@yoss  Of course I don't want that.  But I also don't want to see a one sided blowout.  We already get that in the Women's 135 division whenever Ronda Rousey defends her belt.  I don't want to see the Women's 115 division become that.

Hornet, I think what you're proposing is the actual opposite of what the UFC wants. Valerie is probably seen as a throwaway challenger that can be given some moderate hype because of having a winning streak and can be throw to the champion to have a showcase fight (see also Correia, Bethe and Holm, Holly) and be sold as a moderate threat while the actual #1 challenger is not able to fight. It helps her case that she beat Moroz who was undefeated and coming off a win that looked much better than it was. At the same time she is most probably not considered young or cute enough to be marketable - like Moroz, JoJo, JAG, Torres, Thug Rose, PVZ etc. etc. I expect all of them to be thrown a few softballs to be built up on their way to eventual future title shots sooner or later, be it 2016 or 2017. They will all most likely be built one way or another, while Valérie will serve to give the champion a showcase win on the PPV and keep her busy.

Also, the fight just went official. You can ask gunn how long ago did I tell him I expect it to happen:).

She has to fight someone.

Can't really get mad at this fight. Should be entertaining, and we'll see Joanna vs. Gadelha 2 early next year, barring injuries. Joanna has made it clear she wants to be an active champ. I believe her. 

and Joe Kerr gets another perfect for predicting this a week ago .

Yo Anna is gonna commit murder in this fight.

Will Letourneau even make 115, I wonder? She needed a second try to make 116 last time and looks pretty corpselike at the weight class.

@PilloryChoke, I have confidence the coaches ATT will give her the attention she needs to make the weight; especially this is a title fight.

It would be dope as **** if Letourneau won.. Canada!!! She won't, but ****, it would be awesome. 

I'm actually pretty scared for Valerie in this fight ... she's a tough chick who can take a beating, not a great attribute to come into a Joanna fight with.

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