One of the biggest fights in European MMA history will take place at UFC 205 when Joanna Jedrzejczyk defends her UFC strawweight title against Karolina Kowalkiewicz.

Despite being in the middle of her training camp at her new home in Coconut Creek, Florida at American Top Team, Jedrzejczyk took the time to speak to Submission Radio this weekend. The Polish champion started by explaining why it was so important for her to be fighting at UFC 205 on November 12.

"I wanted to fight on this show so badly," Jedrzejczyk said. "When I heard about the UFC coming to New York I was like Dana please put me on this card. I really wanted to fight so badly on this card, not just because it's a magical place Madison Square Garden, not because it's going to be the first UFC show in New York, but because like you heard, I have so many plans for the rest of this year. It was the just the perfect date for me.

"It's going to be an epic show like it was in Australia. That was a big, amazing show and I want to be part of the biggest UFC shows and I want to be part of the biggest things in my life so it was the reason you know.

"I spoke to Dana on August 1 so it was just three weeks after my fight with Claudia Gadelha. The thing was Dana said he wanted me to fight in Poland and that they wanted to make a UFC show in Poland--they wanted me to face Karolina in Poland. I was like Dana please I want to fight in New York and he did that. I am so thankful to him because I know that so many fighters wanted to be on this card."

Jedrzejczyk then explained that despite her busy schedule coming up in 2017, fighting and defending her UFC title will always remain her number one priority.

"I heard like a week before the press conference because I'd been talking a few times to Dana and Sean Shelby," Jedrzejczyk said. "I was like ok are you going to put me on this card, I just wanted to know when I was going to fight again because I wanted to get ready because I have so many plans for the rest of the year.


"The most important for me is always training and fighting for me. Finally, I am fighting on 205 at Madison Square Garden."

Jedrzejczyk and Kowalkiewicz have long been aware that their paths would at one time intertwine at a professional level. Jedrzejczyk maintains that the two have a good relationship, but that would change the moment they entered the Octagon in Madison Square Garden in November.

"I've known Karolina for a long time already," Jedrzejczyk said. "We fought in 2012. It was an amateur fight, which I won, but the thing is like, before my fight with Claudia Gadelha, we were shooting a TV commercial for one of our sponsors and the thing is like, we've had good relations, and we still have good relations you know, but there are some limits you know.

"In the preparations and when I'm coming to the Octagon there is no more time to play around you know. I'm focused and I'm on this mode you know. She's tough and this is going to be a really, really big fight. She beat Rose Namajunas in her last fight and she is a tough opponent. She says that she has a good plan for me and that Claudia Gadelha didn't have this plan."

While her fellow Pole believes she has the plan to dethrone Jedrzejczyk, the current champion lives by the mantra that everyone has a gameplan until they get punched in the face.

"The thing is though, we all have these kind of plans until the first punch. All of my opponents have had some plans, Karolina has some plans for our upcoming fight, but the thing is I'm a different fighter. I'm a really tough fighter on the night of the fight--I'm like the person from hell. Until the first punch she might have some game plan, but after that not anymore."

Since their first fight back in their amateur days in 2012, Jedrzejczyk admits that Karolina has made some impressive improvements and she's deserving of her title fight.

"She's taken big steps in her fighting career," Jedrzejczyk said. "She's a UFC fighter, she's gone 3-0 in the UFC so she's doing pretty well. "She's very tough physically and mentally. Her cardio is on point so like I said, it's going to be a really, really good fight."

"I will mix a little bit of the fight with Jessica Penne and she's going to get enough punches and kicks to the head. Then I will take a little bit of the fight with Carla Esparza. She will try to take me down because she will have had enough of the punches. Then I will finish her on the ground with a maximum of round three.

"This fight is very big for me. I don't want to just win; I want to win so badly. Even more than with Claudia Gadelha."