Jessica Andrade achieved her lifelong dream of becoming an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title holder by knocking out Rose Namajunas last Saturday (May 11, 2019) at UFC 237 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to win the women’s Strawweight championship.
In the second round of the five-round title fight, “Bate Estaca” slammed “Thug Rose” on her head, knocking her clean out and subsequently putting an abrupt end to a fight Namajunas was clearly winning (relive the knockout here).
But according to former UFC Middleweight champion Michael Bisping, the way the fight concluded was nothing more than a fluke.
“Listen, Jessica Andrade is now the champ. I didn’t see it happening to be honest. Do you know what? I think, and I shouldn’t say this cuz it’s doing a disservice to Jessica Andrade and maybe even being disrespectful, which I’m not trying to do,” said Michael on his “Believe you Me” podcast as transcribed by MMA News.
“It was kind of a fluke. Do you know what I mean? That doesn’t happen. She’s done that move a lot, generally people don’t land on the head and get knocked out. That’s not to say in a rematch she couldn’t win, but I’d definitely favor Rose in the rematch after what I saw in that first round and a half,” he added. “That said, as I said that does come off a little bit disrespectful. That’s not my intention.”
While some questioned the legality of the move, mixed martial arts (MMA) experts did confirm that the slam was legal and Jessica is the rightful champion with no controversy attached. Unfortunately for Andrade, she will likely have to continue hearing the fluke theory moving forward, much like Chris Weidman did on several occasions with his wins over Anderson Silva.
To make matters worse, the Brazilian bomber won’t get a chance to prove everyone wrong right away, as “Thug Rose” currently isn’t interested in an immediate rematch, or even fighting again.