Summary:

The Co-Main Event of the evening comes baring fireworks, as Joanna Jedrzejczyk defends her Strawweight Title against Valarie Letourneau. With both women coming from striking bases and showing little offensive wrestling, I expect this match to stay standing. Valerie holds less striking accolades but brings in more MMA experience as she’s competed against some of the sports best(at multiple weight classes) since 2007. Moving to American Top Team and down to Strawweight, Valerie’s worked hard to shore up ground deficiencies and rejuvenate her career. Preferring to stand, Letourneau shows an aggressive countering style.

Not afraid to engage range or exchange, Letourneau will slip just outside of punches and fire back in volume & variety. Favoring an accurate left hook and right uppercut, she also possesses a nice left switch kick. Against Jedrzejczyk however, I feel Valerie’s counter right hand will serve her best.  As we saw in her last bout with Moroz, Letourneau showed the timing & power to counter aggression and sway the fight momentum. Joanna, who primarily set up strikes from the jab, will often show a body jab(usually setting up a R. hand over the top). In doing this  she tends to lean her head more forward as apposed to angling off toward her power side.

This has opened her up to counter right hands(seen the Carneiro & Gadelha fights) and she’ll need to mind this against Letrourneau. Joanna has however showed massive fight to fight improvements in her last two fights. Showing excellent ring generalship, Joanna uses footwork & striking pressure to dictate opposition against the fence. This is her most effective operating space as she displays dangerous fight ending volumes. Jedrzejczyk also does an excellent job of mixing up her angles of attack. Depending how her opposition defends, she’ll adjust from overhands, uppercuts, to straight punches down the middle.

Giving Joanna the speed and overall striking advantage, It’s easy to say that Valerie should test the Champion on the ground. But with a lack of shown offensive wrestling, I’m not sure what new tricks the French-Canadian can pull out on a short notice fight in this stage of her career. On the flip side of that coin, Joanna shows much improved counter grappling/TD defense and an underrated ground IQ. Though we’ve barely seen Joanna on the floor, it’s for good reason as she’s shown superb cage awareness in her second nature to get to/up from the fence. Even from the bottom she shows more IQ than a lot of female and male ground fighters, as she consistently uses under-hooks from half guard to get up to a single-leg(one of the safest, simplest, and most effective reversal/get up approaches in MMA that surprisingly not a lot employ).

If Valerie fails on take down attempts, she may find herself in a clinch battle. Favoring a hard over-hook she’ll look to land knees, but with Joanna’s “Fore-arm framing” style, I doubt she’ll find her desired leverage. Instead of a traditional Thai clinch or over-under approach, Joanna violently frames her fore-arms into opponents faces only to break off devastating short elbows. I see this not only out doing Valerie, but eating up most girls in the division. I’m not counting out Letourneau completely by any means, but her willingness to brawl & exchange will make for a violent affair that may not go well for her. Between Valerie’s durability to Joanna’s output & aggression, the Champion could be worth a Fantasy spot but I’d avoid any straight plays either way.

Official Pick: Jedrzejczyk – Inside the distance

Official Outcome: To be determined.