Almost a decade has passed since 38-year-old veteran Karolina Kowalkiewicz joined the world’s biggest MMA promotion, the UFC. However, things haven’t always gone ‘The Polish Princess’s way while competing under the banner of Dana White‘s promotion since she has accumulated quite a few losses. But how many times has Kowalkiewicz lost?

Karolina Kolwalkiewicz spent the bulk of her MMA career in the UFC. She started off with three wins on the trot, but things soon changed as her performances started to take a dip. As such, let’s take a look at her first two losses that affected her record between late 2016 and early 2017.

Karolina Kowalkiewicz suffered her first MMA loss in the UFC

Karolina Kowalkiewicz penned her deal to join the UFC in 2015, with an undefeated 7-0 record. While fighting under the Invicta FC and KSW banner, Karolina Kowalkiewicz was untouchable. Nevertheless, the first taste of defeat, which happened in Dana White’s promotion, altered her perfect MMA record forever.

Former UFC champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk who retired from active competition not too long ago was the first person to hand a defeat to Karolina Kowalkiewicz. She easily edged past ‘The Polish Princess’ via a unanimous decision at UFC 205, in one of the bouts from her record-setting title reign. In the battle of two women from Poland, the experienced fighter, although younger than Kowalkiewicz, was able to out-strike her opponent.

Karolina Kowalkieiwicz seemed like she lost momentum and consistency after her first loss because the outcome wasn’t different in the following fight. The 38-year-old fought Claudia Gadelha, but minor mistakes ended up with her taking a submission loss just minutes into the first round. Those two fights were just nightmares for Kowalkiewicz, but the worst was yet to come.

5 back-to-back MMA losses against Alexa Grasso, Yan Xiaonan, and more

The period between September 2018 and August 2021 is something that Karolina Kowalkiewicz may not be too happy about. She suffered consecutive losses as she failed to seize the opportunity against some of the biggest names in women’s MMA. After registering wins in back-to-back matchups since losing to Gadelha, Kowalkiewicz dropped the ball against Jessica Andrade, Michelle Waterson-Gomez, Yan Xiaonan, Alexa Grasso, and Jessica Penne. The former title challenger’s losses came as defeats by decisions, a submission defeat, and a knockout defeat.

Five continuous losses just stung like a bee. However, Kowalkiewicz bounced back with a win, but the Polish star shocking revealed that she might have moved away from MMA if she hadn’t been able to defeat Felice Herrig in 2021. “Yes, I had a really bad moment in that time and I thought maybe it was time to finish with MMA,” Karolina Kowalkiewicz told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “But after a few months, after a few weeks when I fought and everything, no, I cannot finish with MMA because I love it.”

The 38-year-old has had some incredible runs in MMA, despite this 5-fight losing skid in the UFC. Let us take a look at that front, too!

‘The Polish Princess’s winning streak inside and outside the UFC

Karolina Kowalkiewicz entered the UFC with 7 wins in 7 pro fights, and at the beginning of her UFC stint, she was successful in adding three more successful outings to that streak, making it 10 back-to-back triumphs. To make her wins even sweeter, those three wins came at the expense of former two-time champion ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas, Randa Markos, and Heather Clark.

It was not until 2022 that she would find her mojo and consistency back. Since Karolina Kowalkiewicz’s fight against Felice Herrig in 2022, the 115-pound veteran has emerged as the victor in 4 straight fights, beating Silvana Gomez Juarez, Vanessa Demopoulos, and Diana Belbita. This streak includes three decision wins and one submission victory. Now, ‘The Polish Princess’ is looking to make it 5 wins in a row at UFC 301 against Iasmin Lucindo.

At 38 years old, fans can only wonder how much is left in Karolina Kowalkiewicz before she bids farewell to the sport. But with a solid winning streak and momentum by her side, it does not look like retirement is coming up anytime soon.