Namajunas Is Predicting A Beautiful Display Of Martial Arts Against Zhang
Rose Namajunas engaged in a thrilling ‘Fight of the Night‘ affair at UFC 251 this past weekend. The split decision win meant avenging the loss suffered at the hands of Jessica Andrade at UFC 237, where she lost her strawweight title.
The win has now placed Namajunas in prime position to challenge Zhang Weili for the UFC strawweight title. However, she must first nurse the wounds sustained during her rematch with Andrade. The bout left the 28 year-old with multiple injuries to the face, including a broken nose which required surgery due to a deviated septum.
Namajunas has since had successful surgery on her nose. Speaking to ESPN‘s Ariel Helwani, ‘Thug’ Rose revealed that the plan going into UFC 251 was to come out of it with a title shot.
“That was kind of the plan going into it,” Namajunas said. “I just have to get this nose fixed first. I don’t know what the recovery time is.”
The recovery started in the hospital immediately after her fight with Andrade. Which is exactly when Namajunas’ fiancé and coach Pat Berry revealed the planning began for their fight with the champion, Zhang.
“We know Weili’s never taken a day off, ever,” Berry said. “She’s training right now. She watched [the Namajunas vs Andrade] fight. We don’t know what’s next, but that seems like what would be what’s next. We started game planning for that fight in the hospital an hour after the fight.”
With Namajunas back inside the winning circle and with a renewed love of martial arts, the former champion can’t wait to set foot inside the Octagon with Zhang.
“I would love to fight her,” Namajunas said “She’s awesome. Really technical, really strong. That’s something that interests me a lot. Ever since I saw her fight Tecia [Torres], I’ve been scouting her out a little bit, and I think it’s just going to be a beautiful display of martial arts. She’s a master, I’m a master. It’s going to be really cool.”
Zhang has also sung Namajunas’ praises in the past and although there has been no official talk of the fight just yet, it’s definitely the fight to make at the top of the UFC strawweight division.
“We haven’t really talked about it yet but that’s definitely the plan.”
How do you see the fight between Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili going?
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