This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Joanna Jedrzejczyk Turns 30

Joanna Jedrzejczyk has laid waste to an entire division in three short years, and she shows no signs of slowing down. The Polish powerhouse will celebrate her 30th birthday on Aug. 18.

Jedrzejczyk arrived on the Ultimate Fighting Championship scene as an undefeated but unproven prospect in July 2014 and went on an absolute tear at 115 pounds. After victories over Juliana Lima and Claudia Gadelha made her the No. 1 contender, she captured the women’s strawweight championship with a brutal beatdown of Carla Esparza at UFC 185. Jedrzejczyk has only tightened her grip on the throne since, as she emerged as the top pound-for-pound fighter in women’s MMA. Now operating out of American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, “Joanna Champion” has successfully defended the 115-pound title on five occasions, besting Gadelha in their rematch, Jessica Penna, Valerie Letourneau, Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Jessica Andrade. In those five appearances, Jedrzejczyk has outlanded the opposition by an eye-popping 994-406 margin, per FightMetric.

Her perfect record now at 14-0, Jedrzejczyk figures to put her championship on the line once more in 2017, perhaps against Rose Namajunas.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of August:

AUG. 1

Dominic Clark, 32
Gegard Mousasi, 32
Ricardo Lucas Ramos, 22

AUG. 2

Krzysztof Soszynski, 40
Jeff Hougland, 39
John Kelly, 39
Ivan Musardo, 37
Aleksander Emelianenko, 36
Nick Diaz, 34
Zak Cummings, 33
Magomed Mustafaev, 29

AUG. 3

Eric Esch, 51
Johnny Eduardo, 39
Carey Vanier, 36
Aleksandar Radosavljevic, 34
Neil Magny, 30
Amanda Bell, 29
Ben Nguyen, 29

AUG. 4

Dhafir Harris, 40
Duane Ludwig, 39
Mitsuhisa Sunabe, 38
Iuri Alcantara, 37
Bernardo Magalhaes, 36
Joe Duarte, 34
Bryan Caraway, 33
Jared Rosholt, 31
Oluwale Bamgbose, 30
Jonathan Meunier, 30
Paul Sass, 29
Ray Borg, 24

AUG. 5

Sean Sherk, 44
Dmitry Smoliakov, 35
Lissette Neri, 30
Dustin Pague, 30
Mladen Kujundzic, 28

AUG. 6

Sean Gray, 44
Igor Vovchanchyn, 44
Patrick Mikesz, 43
Tracy Hess, 40
Chris Beal, 32
Daniel Pineda, 32
Minoru Takeuchi, 32

AUG. 7

Edwin Dewees, 35
Henry Martinez, 34
Martin Begley, 32

AUG. 8

Yusuke Imamura, 41
Shayna Baszler, 37
Benny Madrid, 37
Damir Hadzovic, 31
Damon Jackson, 29
Mairbek Taisumov, 29

AUG. 9

Kerry Schall, 46
Kyle Watson, 38
Cary Bullos, 34
C.J. Keith, 31

AUG. 10

Kevin Randleman (1971-2016)
C.B. Dollaway, 34
Randa Markos, 32
Joe Proctor, 32

AUG. 11

Joe Rogan, 50
Chase Gormley, 34
Abdul Razak Alhassan, 32
Henry Corrales, 31
Ev Ting, 28
Emmanuel Sanchez, 27

AUG. 12

Frankie Saenz, 37
Pearl Gonzalez, 31
Norma Rueda Center, 30

AUG. 13

Solomon Hutcherson, 45
Nik Lentz, 33
Jonathan Brookins, 32
Russell Doane, 31
Demetrious Johnson, 31
Ronys Torres, 31
Joe Gigliotti, 24

AUG. 14

Ricardo Funch, 37
Brylan Van Artsdalen, 33
Mark Holst, 32
Colton Smith, 30

AUG. 15

Katsuhisa Fujii, 45
Moyses Gabin, 37
Valmir Lazaro, 32
Andy Enz, 26

AUG. 16

Rulon Gardner, 46
Hiroya Takada, 40
Mickael Lebout, 30
Tecia Torres, 28
Joe Madrid, 27

AUG. 17

Masaaki Satake, 52
Carlos Newton, 41
Valentijn Overeem, 41
Leslie Smith, 35

AUG. 18

Chris Lytle, 43
Chad Robichaux, 42
Sergei Kharitonov, 37
Geronimo dos Santos, 37
Sachiko Yamamoto, 37
Guy Delumeau, 36
Josh Tyler, 34
Gian Villante, 32
Miesha Tate, 31
Joanna Jedrzejczyk, 30
Sergio Pettis, 24
Agilan Thani, 22

AUG. 19

Ricco Rodriguez, 40
Kyle Bradley, 35
Stipe Miocic, 35
Krzysztof Jotko, 28
Julianna Pena, 28
Mizuki Inoue, 23
Jake Matthews, 23

AUG. 20

Tom Speer, 33
Sheldon Westcott, 33
Billy Giovanella, 32
Elizabeth Phillips, 31
Gleristone Santos, 29

AUG. 21

Alex Reid, 42
Dave Jansen, 38
Daniel Sarafian, 35
Zachary Micklewright, 31
Shoko Sato, 30
Luis Henrique Barbosa de Oliveira, 24

AUG. 22

Hideo Tokoro, 40
Pat Runez, 38
Justin Buchholz, 34
Niklas Backstrom, 28

AUG. 23

Brock Larson, 40
Scott McAfee, 34
Andrey Koreshkov, 27

AUG. 24

James Toney, 49
Dan Henderson, 47
Trevor Prangley, 45
Dong Sik Yoon, 45
Marcus Davis, 44
Hayato Sakurai, 42
Francisco Trinaldo, 39
Charles Rosa, 31
Jake Heun, 30

AUG. 25

Jeremy Horn, 42
Danny Castillo, 38
Mark Holata, 35
Piotr Hallmann, 30
Ryan Benoit, 28
Leon Edwards, 26

AUG. 26

Erik Apple, 40
Lance Benoist, 29
Amanda Ribas, 24

AUG. 27

Hermes Franca, 43
Amir Sadollah, 37
Lew Polley, 36
Ryan Couture, 35
Shahbulat Shamhalaev, 34

AUG. 28

Deividas Taurosevicius, 40
Anthony Ferguson, 37
Karo Parisyan, 35
Louis Gaudinot, 33
Rick Story, 33
Jon Tuck, 33

AUG. 29

George Kleber, 40
Gabe Ruediger, 40
Vinicius Kappke de Queiroz, 34
Kelly Anundson, 33

AUG. 30

Eric Prindle, 41
Barb Honchak, 38
Cole Escovedo, 36
Joe Brammer, 34
Jim Miller, 34

AUG. 31

Ido Pariente, 39
Daniel Omielanczuk, 35
Pat Curran, 30
Alexis Dufresne, 27