BERLIN – For nearly three full rounds, UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk battered challenger Jessica Penne with a diverse array of strikes from all angles, often at blistering speed.
With Penne (12-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) bleeding from a badly damaged nose, her face swelling as her offensive output disappeared, referee Marc Goddard finally moved in to stop at the 4:22 mark of Round 3, awarding Jedrzejczyk the TKO victory in her first UFC title defense.
The women’s strawweight title bout was the main event of today’s UFC
Fight Night 69 event at O2 World Berlin in Germany’s capital city. It
streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
Penne’s game plan in this fight was hardly a secret, and she wasted little time trying to employ it in the opening round, quickly moving into the clinch and attempting to leverage Jedrzejczyk to the mat in order to put her jiu-jitsu black belt to work.
Jedrzejczyk refused to go down easily, however. While Penne was occasionally successful in getting Jedrzejczyk to the floor, she never managed to keep her there, as the champion bounced up again and again before resuming the assault on the feet.
With quick punch combos, sneaky elbows, and an array of kicks, Jedrzejczyk bloodied Penne early, smashing her nose and raising great lumps on her forehead as one blow after another found its home. Several times Jedrzejczyk appeared to have Penne hurt as the challenger retreated into a defensive shell, but as Goddard threatened to stop it, Penne managed to do just enough to convince the veteran referee that she was still in the fight.
That changed late in the third, when Penne retreated against the fence, covering up under the torrent of Jedrzejczyk’s blows, offering no response of her own. With Penne now covered in her own blood and the fight clearly heading in one direction, Goddard had seen enough. As he stepped in to wave it off, Jedrzejczyk rushed to celebrate atop the cage, shouting into the cageside cameras, “Who’s next?”
The win maintains Jedrzejczyk’s perfect professional record in MMA, and marks her first title defense since winning the UFC women’s strawweight title with a second-round TKO of Carla Esparza in March. Penne’s loss is her first since March of 2013, snapping a two-fight winning streak.
Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 69 results include:

• Champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk def. Jessica Penne via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 4:22 – to defend strawweight title
Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Dennis Siver via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) Peter Sobotta def. Steve Kennedy via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:57 Nick Hein def. Lukasz Sajewski via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) Makwan Amirkhani def. Masio Fullen via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 1:41 Mairbek Taisumov def. Alan Patrick via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:30 Arnold Allen def. Alan Omer via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 1:45 Noad Lahat def. Niklas Backstrom via majority decision (28-28, 29-28, 29-28) Scott Askham def. Antonio dos Santos Jr. via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 2:52 Magomed Mustafaev def. Piotr Hallmann via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 2, 3:24 Taylor Lapilus def. Yuta Sasaki via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:22

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 69, check out the UFC Events section of the site. (MMAjunkie’s Matt Erickson contributed to this report on site in Berlin.)