Jessica Penne (12-2) kommer ta sig an Joanna Jedrzejczyk (9-0) på UFC Fight Night 69 i Berlin i hopp om att bli den nya stråviktsmästarinnan och hoppas vinna respekt.
Penne hoppas kunna vinna respekt från och visa att hon är en fighter att hålla ögonen på.
”They have a lot of fighters on their roster,” sa Penne. ”If I’m not getting attention from them, I just know I have to go out and earn it. I’ve never got a lot of attention from one specific promoter, I just need to go out there and get those fights and earn that respect.”
Penne hade först svårt att ta in att hon faktiskt hade fått en titelmatch.
”I was at Alliance, with some of my Alliance teammates, and I got a call from [matchmaker] Sean Shelby and sometimes I think that’s like, automatically bad news,” sa Penne. ”He told me get up and walk away and be in place no one can hear me. He let me know, I didn’t quite process it until [two days later] when I woke up and my phone was exploding with messages and notifications, it just kind of became real a that point.”
Penne tycker att Jedrzejczyk är en duktig fighter, men att Carla Esparza (10-3) inte gjorde sitt bästa i den matchen och det fick Jedrzejczyk att framstå som ännu bättre.
”I think Joanna is a really good fighter, but I think Carla didn’t really show up to fight,” sa Penne. ”And that made her look even better than she does normally. I’m not at all distracted by that last matchup. Joanna played an extremely tight, well thought out game plan, and she stuck to it and she accomplished her goals. But Carla didn’t show up to fight the way she normally does. In a great division, there’s a lot of good and bad matchups for people.”
Penne var atomviktare i Invicta FC, men försöker att bli mer och mer bekväm som stråviktare.
”I was a little concerned initially, since I used to fight at 105 but I feel this is a much better fit for my size and my shape,” sa Penne. ”And I’m working hard to grow into the weight class a little bit better. But I do feel 115 is where I should be. Just because I can make 105 doesn’t mean it’s best fit for me. A lot of guys go down in weight class and end up going back up because its too taxing on their body.”
Penne var atomviktsmästarinnan i Invicta FC, men förlorade titeln till Michelle Waterson (12-4) via armbar i fjärde ronden. Penne vill gärna få till en returmatch då hon känner att Waterson hade tur i matchen.
”I know she got lucky in that fight and I think she does, too,” sa Penne. ”Right now I’m not worried about it, I’ve got a championship belt on my mind. If she happens to move up in the rankings and I get an opportunity, of course I’m going to avenge it.”
