Joanna Jedrzejczyk retains title with dominant win over Jessica Penne

Only minutes after Joanna Jedrzejczyk retained her UFC strawweight title with a one-sided third-round stoppage victory over outgunned challenger Jessica Penne at the O2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany, she was asked about who might be next.

She grinned broadly. She's now beaten Nos. 1 (Carla Esparza), 2 (Claudia Gadelha) and 3 (Penne) in the UFC's strawweight division and has clearly stamped herself as the finest 115-pound fighter in the world.

It's not, she pointed out, who she wants next. It's a simpler, more basic question that must be answered.

"Are they ready for me," Jedrzejczyk asked.

At least so far, the answer has been no. A former Muay Thai kickboxing world champion, Jedrzejczyk's striking skills are what has allowed her to lap the rest of her weight class.

She fought off the game Penne's numerous takedown attempts. Once she found her range and started landing her vast array of strikes, it was only a matter of time until Penne would not be able to continue.

The official end came at 4:22 of the third, when a straight right hand followed by a knee sent the American staggering back, helpless, into the cage. Her eyes were both swollen nearly shut and she was bleeding from multiple cuts when referee Marc Goddard mercifully halted the bout.

"Again and again and again, and still," a jubilant Jedrzejczyk exclaimed. "I'm going to be the champion for a while. Nobody is going to take this belt from me."

She won it at UFC 185 in March in an impressive performance in taking it from Esparza, who had entered as the champion.

If anything, though, she was even more impressive in her defeat of Penne, who took dozens of brutal blows to the face and head and continued to fight on. But when Goddard finally waved it off, Penne didn't protest, her body language showing she knew a finish was only inevitable.

Jedrzejczyk won the first round, though it was the closest of the three contested. Penne managed to briefly dump Jedrzejczyk once early, but Jedrzejczyk's takedown defense was, as usual, impeccable.

But it was a short right elbow from Jedrzejczyk in the second round while they were clinched that turned the fight around. It opened a cut on Penne's nose and unleashed a torrent of kicks, punches and elbows from the champion until Godard had seen enough and opted to save Penne.

"I said to Jessica [before the match] that this fight was going to be a war," Jedrzejczyk said. "Was it a war? It was a real war."

Judging by the looks of things, it may take a small army to defeat Jedrzejczyk, who is now 10-0 with five finishes.