Karolina Kowalkiewicz: ‘My Big Dream Is To Finish Felice Herrig’

UFC 223 creeps ever close and an intriguing strawweight bout between Karolina Kowalkiewicz and Felice Herrig looks set to headline the preliminary card.

Kowalkiewicz (11-2) rebounded from the first two losses of her career last October when she defeated Jodie Esquibel at UFC Gdansk in Poland. With the wind back in her sails, the Pole will now return to fight in New York for the second time when she takes on Herrig (14-6) in Brooklyn next Saturday.

Speaking with PolsatSport in Poland this morning, Kowalkiewicz said she was expecting a tough fight.

“It will surely be a tough fight for me and it will also be a tough fight for her. But I think it will be way harder for her – at least I hope so,” Kowalkiewicz said.

“She has made a big improvements in every dimension. She improved her ground game.

“I think physical strength is her biggest advantage – you can see it by her figure, you can see it on her training sessions, but physical strength doesn’t always affect the fight.”

Herrig has suffered six losses in her professional career, but is yet to have been finished.

Kowalkiewicz hasn’t beaten an opponent inside the distance since her submission win over Jasminka Cive in KSW back in 2014, but says she’s hopeful that she can be the first one to hand Herrig her first non-decision loss.

“Felice has not been finished yet! My big dream is to finish the fight by some fun knockout or submission, but this is a fight.

“Everything changes after you get hit by the first punch so I’m expecting a tough 15-minute fight.”