Rose Namajunas expects Zhang Weili to make a lot of adjustments at UFC 268 considering how their first fight went.
Rose Namajunas is not too concerned by Zhang Weili enlisting former two-division Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Henry Cejudo for their rematch at UFC 268.
Namajunas vs. Zhang will — a UFC Women’s Strawweight title fight — will serve as the co-main event for UFC 268, taking place inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on Sat., Nov. 6 via ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV). “Thug” Rose, who snatched the title from Zhang via first-round head kick knockout (watch here) at UFC 261 in April, says her opponent really needs to switch things up.
“I don’t really know anything about their relationship, personally,” Namajunas told The Schmo (h/t BJPenn.com). “I can only imagine there’s some type of language barrier. But other than that, I feel like they seem to have a good chemistry on the surface so I don’t make any assumptions.
“I would think that she’s probably wrestling a lot more and she’s got a great clinch so she’s probably going to try to close the distance or something like that because she obviously wasn’t winning on the outside. So she’s gotta try to make it close.”
Namajunas noted that, clearly, whatever Zhang did last time is not going to serve her well in the rematch.
“I think it’s sort of expected for her to change something up because, obviously, whatever she did last time didn’t work so well for her,” Namajunas said. “Whatever she’s gotta do, I’m sure she’s gonna be very motivated and ready to go.
“I don’t really make too much of it. I just know that she’s got to be sort of thinking a lot. She could be overthinking, she could be just more motivated than ever. So I just have to be ready for the best version of Weili no matter what.”
UFC 268 is headlined by a grudge rematch pitting UFC Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington.
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