Dustin Poirier and Rose Namajunas will be featured in a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday. The former interim lightweight champion and former strawweight champion will be involved in a commercial for the mortgage company, Guaranteed Rate. The company rel…
Dustin Poirier and Rose Namajunas will be featured in a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday. The former interim lightweight champion and former strawweight champion will be involved in a commercial for the mortgage company, Guaranteed Rate. The company released the commercial early for UFC fans to see Poirier and Namajunas in action. It is part […]
Dana White has provided an update on Weili Zhang’s next fight, specifically the possible opponent and location. Dana White has not given up on a potential showdown between strawweight champion Weili Zhang and Rose Namajunas. Recently, White seemed to d…
Dana White has provided an update on Weili Zhang’s next fight, specifically the possible opponent and location. Dana White has not given up on a potential showdown between strawweight champion Weili Zhang and Rose Namajunas. Recently, White seemed to do just that when he claimed that Namajunas has no desire to be world champion again. […]
UFC President Dana White provided an update on the Strawweight title and revealed that the promotion is looking to book the current champion Zhang Weili vs Rose Namajunas “this year and in Asia” In an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the UFC President claimed that Rose Namajunas remained the first option to fight for the […]
UFC President Dana White provided an update on the Strawweight title and revealed that the promotion is looking to book the current champion Zhang Weili vs Rose Namajunas “this year and in Asia”
In an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the UFC President claimed that Rose Namajunas remained the first option to fight for the belt and if any complications occur they will look to book Weili vs Carla Esparza. “We’re working on her, too,” White said of the Chinese Champion. “Obviously, the fight everybody wants to see is her and Rose. Hopefully we can get that done. If not, the next one in line would probably be Carla Esparza. We’re looking to do that fight this year – and in Asia.” (Transcribed by MMAJunkie)
The last time the UFC held a live event in China was at UFC Fight Night 157 in Shenzhen when Weili was crowned the champion for the first time by stopping the champion at the time Jessica Andrade in just 42 seconds earning her a performance of the night bonus.
The champion hasn’t competed since her split decision victory in a fight of the year contender with Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 in March last year. She also previously stated that she would like to defend her belt next against the former champion Rose Namajunas.
As for “Thug Rose”, she last competed in UFC’s first fight island event UFC 251 where she earned a split decision win over Jessica Andrade in what was fight of the night.
Do you think we see Zhang Weili vs Rose Namajunas next year?
Rose Namajunas is still in talks to fight Weili Zhang according to manager Brian Butler. Namajunas — coming off an impressive win over Jessica Andrade — was expected to be the next challenger for Zhang’s strawweight crown. However, UFC president Dana White recently claimed Namajunas didn’t want the fight which could lead to Carla Esparza […]
Rose Namajunas is still in talks to fight Weili Zhang according to manager Brian Butler.
Namajunas — coming off an impressive win over Jessica Andrade — was expected to be the next challenger for Zhang’s strawweight crown. However, UFC president Dana White recently claimed Namajunas didn’t want the fight which could lead to Carla Esparza getting the next shot.
Namajunas as well as her coach and fiance Pat Barry have since denied White’s claims but it still isn’t clear what exactly is causing friction in the negotiations.
As far as Butler is concerned, talks are still ongoing. However, representing all three fighters, he also revealed that Esparza is in the mix.
“We’re still in talks with the UFC about Rose, but I can tell you that Rose is ready,” Butler told MMA Junkie. “Rose has been ready. She’s been ready, she’s been in camp. Rose is ready to fight, honestly, in the next – she can fight on a couple of weeks’ notice. She’s ready to go.
“So we have to see. It could be Rose, it could be Carla, it could be whoever. We’ll see.”
As for Zhang, she hasn’t competed since her split decision war with Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 in March last year. However, she has been ready to compete for a while as well and was hoping to do so in Fight Island this month only for the cards to fill up too quick.
And given what she had to endure last year due to COVID-19 restrictions, “Magnum” isn’t particularly keen on competing in the United States anytime soon.
“Weili has been ready to go for some time now,” Butler said. “The only hesitancy is – her last fight, I don’t know if everybody knows the full details on everything that happened. But for her to even get to that fight was trails and trails just to get there. To avoid the COVID, they flew her to Thailand. Then Thailand started to lock down, so they flew her to Abu Dhabi. She was traveling for the last third of that camp.
“She was flying all around the world just to kind of escape getting locked into a country, and then finally gets to Vegas, puts on the performance that she does, and then she’s stuck in Vegas for several months after the fight because she can’t go home. And then when she finally does get home, she has to basically get locked up again for another month. She has been a little bit paranoid to come back Stateside right now until things have calmed down.”
Hopefully, we get to see Zhang vs. Namajunas soon as that’s the fight most fans want to see.
Do you think we’ll see Zhang take on Namajunas next?
Rose Namajunas’ manager makes it clear, his client is ready to fight. Recently, UFC president, Dana White has revealed Namajunas doesn’t want to fight and they are looking at Carla Esparza to face Weili Zhang. However, Brian Butler, who man…
Rose Namajunas’ manager makes it clear, his client is ready to fight. Recently, UFC president, Dana White has revealed Namajunas doesn’t want to fight and they are looking at Carla Esparza to face Weili Zhang. However, Brian Butler, who manages, Rose Namajunas makes it clear, the former strawweight champ wants to fight. “We’re still in […]
Rose Namajunas has responded to Dana White’s claim she doesn’t want a title shot. In a recent interview, White claimed they wanted to book Weili Zhang vs. Namajunas but the former champion didn’t want the title shot. However, accordin…
Rose Namajunas has responded to Dana White’s claim she doesn’t want a title shot. In a recent interview, White claimed they wanted to book Weili Zhang vs. Namajunas but the former champion didn’t want the title shot. However, according to “Thug Rose” that is far from the truth. “I don’t know if you follow stuff […]
UFC President Dana White provided an update on the Strawweight title and revealed that the promotion is looking to book the current champion Zhang Weili vs Rose Namajunas “this year and in Asia” In an interview with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, the UFC President claimed that Rose Namajunas remained the first option to fight for the […]
Rose Namajunas is still in talks to fight Weili Zhang according to manager Brian Butler. Namajunas — coming off an impressive win over Jessica Andrade — was expected to be the next challenger for Zhang’s strawweight crown. However, UFC president Dana White recently claimed Namajunas didn’t want the fight which could lead to Carla Esparza […]