Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
After her UFC 251 win, “Thug” Rose Namajunas is already looking forward to a fight against Weili Zhang.
Former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas got the job done on Saturday night at UFC 251 against Jessica Andrade. Facial bruises aside, “Thug Rose” got even with a split decision victory and a $50,000 bonus for Fight of the Night.
Getting to assess her performance a few days later, Namajunas spoke about it in a recent conversation with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.
“I loved it, yeah. I loved it even more considering the improvement Andrade made,” she said (transcript by MMA Junkie). “I was happy with the level of prepared I was.
“Going into the third, I knew she was gonna come out a little desperate. Anticipating that was like, ‘Ooh, gotta be extra sharp.’ Obviously I got caught, but overall I was just so proud of myself.”
The victory over Andrade moved Namajunas up to number one at the 115-pound rankings, right below champion Weili Zhang. A title fight is the next logical step, which Rose already welcomes.
“Ever since I saw her fight Tecia (Torres), I’ve been scouting her out a little bit,” Namajunas said. “I just think it’s gonna be a beautiful display of martial arts. She’s a master; I’m a master. It’s gonna be really cool.
“I would love to fight her. She’s awesome. She’s really technical, really strong, just overall a master. That’s something that really interests me a lot.”
After UFC 251, the 28-year-old Namajunas improved to a record of 10-4 (with six wins by stoppage).