Joanna J?drzejczyk believes Rose Namajunas will still be the strawweight champ after tonight’s UFC 274.
Namajunas is looking to defend her title in a rematch against Carla Esparza in an intriguing matchup given Esparza beat Namajunas to win the inaugural title.
Heading into the fight, Namajunas is a sizeable favorite, and according to the former strawweight champ in J?drzejczyk — who has fought both of them — believes Namajunas finishes Esparza early.
“I think Rose Namajunas first round, you know, a finish. I see Carla Esparza shooting and Rose defending the takedown and submitting her,” J?drzejczyk said to MMAFighting. “Her footwork and her strikes are so crisp…she can knock her out. I feel like Carla Esparza can’t handle — but she’s the next challenger and she deserves that. She’s right there at the top. Let’s see what’s going to happen next week.”
Namajunas does have first-round knockouts in her arsenal as she finished J?drzejczyk to win the belt and finished Weili Zhang in the first round at UFC 261 to win the title for the second time.
With that, Namajunas has shown she has the power to finish the fight and J?drzejczyk believes the champ is the greatest right now.
“She’s a different fighter right now. She has an amazing coach, amazing people around her, she’s training really hard, and she’s right there. She’s the champ. She’s the greatest right now. She’s in her prime.”
Rose Namajunas is coming off the split decision win over Zhang to defend her belt back at UFC 268. J?drzejczyk, meanwhile, is set to return at UFC 275 in June against Zhang in a very intriguing matchup as it is the first time the Pole fights since her split decision loss to Zhang. Should both Namajunas and J?drzejczyk both win, perhaps the trilogy match is next.
Do you agree with Joanna J?drzejczyk that Rose Namajunas finishes Carla Esparza?
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