Joanna Jedrzejczyk defended her UFC strawweight title the only way she seems to know how: violently.
Seeking the first defense of her 115-pound title, Jedrzejczyk (10-0) crushed Jessica Penne in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday, finishing the challenger via TKO at 4:22 of the third round. The title fight took place inside the 02 World in Berlin.
Penne (12-3) showed remarkable heart, refusing to go down in what was an extremely one-sided fight. The former Invicta FC atomweight champion was still on her feet, even when referee Marc Goddard mercifully stepped in to stop the bout. The finish came after Jedrzejczyk landed a hard knee to Penne's face along the fence.
"I'm going to be the champion for a while," Jedrzejczyk said. "I said to Jessica this fight would be a war. Was it a war? It was a real war."
The Polish champion was arguably even more dominant in her first title defense than she was three months ago, when she claimed the UFC title in a second-round knockout against Carla Esparza.
A former professional Muay Thai fighter, Jedrzejczyk defended Penne's attempts to get the fight to the floor and eventually took over on the feet. She knocked the challenger down with a right hand in the first round and busted her nose open with an elbow in the second.
Nearly all of Penne's takedown attempts came from the clinch position. She timed her shots well, darting in on several occasions underneath lead left hooks or right hands by Jedrzejczyk, securing a body lock and pushing the champion to the fence.
Takedowns failed to follow, however, and Penne frequently ended up eating elbows for her efforts, as Jedrzejczyk broke away from the clinch. Her only real takedown came with authority -- a strong hip toss from inside the clinch -- but unluckily occurred in the final seconds of the first round.
According to immediate cageside stats provided by Fightmetric, Jedrzejczyk outlanded Penne in total strikes, 190-28. She was similarly dominant in her title win against Esparza (10-3), outlanding the former champion, 53-4.
"Are they ready for me?" asked Jedrzejczyk, speaking about the 115-pound division. "I put on a great performance. Everybody was talking about [Penne's] judo and jiu-jitsu. I fought [Claudia] Gadelha, a [jiu-jitsu] black belt. I fought Esparza, who was supposed to be the greatest in the division. Nobody is taking this belt from me."
Goddard could have arguably stopped the fight at any moment from midway through the second round on. Penne somehow managed to stay on her feet, but her face was a mess and she was an easy target for the well-conditioned Jedrzejczyk. She came forward with a right hand to start the third round, which Jedrzejczyk easily slipped and countered with a three-punch combination. The clinch, where Penne wanted to be early on, turned into a nightmare position, as Jedrzejczyk poured on knees and elbows in close.
Jedrzejczyk improves to 4-0 in the Octagon. Saturday marked the fourth knockout of her career. Her closest fight thus far in the UFC came against Gadelha (12-1) in December. She won the bout via split decision.
Kawajiri does enough to scrape past Siver
Coming off a 14-month layoff, Tatsuya Kawajiri earned a unanimous decision over Dennis Siver behind persistent offensive grappling.
Kawajiri (34-8-2) struggled to take Siver to the floor early, but stuck to the game plan and eventually took over late. All three judges scored the featherweight bout in his favor, 29-28.
According to immediate cageside stats, Kawajiri converted on just four of 14 takedown attempts, but that's really all it took, as he was very effective at holding top position once he had Siver down. After fighting to defend takedowns early, Siver (22-11) began hunting guillotines in the second and third rounds, which left him more vulnerable to the shots.
Siver, who fell to 0-2 on the year, looked relatively good on the feet. He got the better of nearly all the exchanges in close and appeared to hurt Kawajiri in the first round with his signature spinning back kick. The issue was he wasn't on his feet enough. Kawajiri spent nearly seven of the last 10 minutes of the bout in top position.
The German featherweight has just one win via guillotine on his record, but that didn't stop him from continuously searching for one. Kawajiri looked comfortable throughout Siver's attempts, calmly passing Siver's guard and clearing his head once he had him down.
Kawajiri improves to 2-1 in the UFC. The Japanese veteran, who has made appearances in PRIDE, Strikeforce and DREAM, among others, has won seven of his past eight fights. Siver, 36, is now officially 3-3 since dropping to the 145-pound division.
Sobotta earns 10th submission win
Peter Sobotta cruised to his 10th career submission win, tapping UFC newcomer Steve Kennedy via rear-naked choke at 2:57 of the first round.
Sobotta (15-4-1) pounced on Kennedy early with straight left hands, before taking his back in a scramble and applying the choke.
The 28-year-old Sobotta is in his second stint with the UFC. The German welterweight made his promotional debut in June 2009, but was released after a three-fight skid. He has gone 7-0-1 since, including a 2-0 mark since returning to the UFC last year.
"I think the most important thing is the head and the heart," Sobotta said. "I have more confidence as I became older. I don't train different things. I still train with the same people as when I started in MMA. I think I just grew my confidence."
Kennedy (22-7), who took the fight on short notice, appeared startled by Sobotta's pressure early on. He ate several hard punches to the chin and backed up, stiffly, to the cage wall. He attempted to take Sobotta down after settling down a bit, but gave up his back in a scramble. It is the fifth submission loss of Kennedy's career.
Hein hands Sajewski first career loss
German lightweight Nick Hein moved to 2-1 in the UFC, outclassing undefeated Polish prospect Lukasz Sajewski on the feet in a unanimous decision.
An accomplished judoka, Hein (12-2) stuck and moved from the outside the majority of the contest, landing frequent leg kicks and setting up the counter left hand. Sajewski (13-1) did his best to instigate exchanges, but really struggled in his attempts to close distance against the free-moving Hein.
"[Coach] Roger Huerta slapped me during every training, trying to teach me to stick and move, stick and move," Hein said. "I think it worked today."
Immediate cageside stats counted 81 total strikes landed by Hein, compared to 50 for Sajewski. Although it was Hein who employed the stick and move strategy, he also threw with more power, catching Sajewski with two-punch combinations as he chased him around the cage.
Hein's strategy made for a slow fight at times, as he circled away from the flailing Sajewski. The best action came in the third round, when Sajewski's aggression grew somewhat desperate, turning him into an easy counter target.
Hein rebounds from a decision loss to James Vick in November, his first loss since 2011. He earned a unanimous decision victory against Drew Dober in his UFC debut last year.