Dana White has raised the stakes for UFC 275.
The UFC president revealed on Tuesday that the winner of the rematch between former 115-pound champions Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Zhang Weili is set to become the next challenger for two-time UFC strawweight queen Carla Esparza.
“Whoever win this fight will certainly fight Esparza to the title,” White stated to The Underground before UFC 275..
“I’m sure [Esparza] will be watching this Saturday closely and will be ready to roll with whoever wins.”
Esparza won the belt with a split victory over Rose Namajunas in UFC 274.. The 34-year-old veteran has won a career-best six consecutive bouts.
Her upset of Namajunas flipped the makeup of the division on its head, allowing both Jedrzejczyk and Weili chances to slip back into title contention despite owning two losses each to Namajunas. It also meant Marina Rodriguez — a winner of four straight bouts and MMA Fighting’s current No. 5 was ranked strawweight around the globe. She will now have to fight again, rather than receiving the title shot that she campaigned for.
“She is right there. These things happen,” White said of Rodriguez. “Timing is everything.”
Jedrzejczyk has a long history with Esparza. To end Esparza’s reign as UFC champion, the former beat Esparza via a vicious second round knockout.
Jedrzejczyk has been sidelined since her first meeting with Zhang in March 2020 at UFC 248, a bout that is widely considered to be one the greatest fights in MMA history. And though White admitted he doesn’t expect Saturday’s rematch to live up to that historic performance, he’s still eager to see who emerges as the division’s next No. 1 contender.
” I don’t know how to win the first fight or put such pressure on it,” White stated. “But they’re both absolute savages. It should be a great fight.”
