Tag: Rose Namajunas

Michelle Waterson Signs Huge Fight For UFC On FOX 24

“The Karate Hottie” has her next UFC fight set. After finishing popular fan favorite Paige VanZant in shockingly easy fashion at December’s UFC on FOX 22, word arrived on tonight’s (Sat., February 11, 2017) UFC 208 broadcast that Michelle Waterson will continue her quest towards a UFC women’s strawweight title shot by facing former title

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“The Karate Hottie” has her next UFC fight set.

After finishing popular fan favorite Paige VanZant in shockingly easy fashion at December’s UFC on FOX 22, word arrived on tonight’s (Sat., February 11, 2017) UFC 208 broadcast that Michelle Waterson will continue her quest towards a UFC women’s strawweight title shot by facing former title challenger Rose Namajunas at April 15’s UFC on FOX 24 from Kansas City, Missouri.

The former Invicta FC atomweight champion has won her only two UFC bouts, submitting Angela Magana in her UFC debut in July 2015 before a series of injuries delayed her next fight until the end of 2016.

The fight pits the rare match-up of a winning fighter facing an opponent coming off of a loss, as Namajunas lost a pivotal title eliminator against Karolina Kowalkiewicz in her last bout at July 2016’s UFC 201. Long billed as the future of the UFC strawweight division, “Thug” has displayed stints of brilliance and inconsistency in the octagon.

Namajunas boasts wins over VanZant, Tecia Torres, and Angela Hill, but has also lost to Carla Esparza, Torres, and Kowalkiewicz. She’s still ranked at No. 5 to Waterson’s No. 7. The promotion also announced a flyweight bout between Tim Elliot and Louis Smolka, a a middleweight bout between Andrew Sanchez and Anthony Smith, and a light heavyweight bout between Devin Collier and Jake Collier.

The first-ever UFC card from Kansas City will take place from the Sprint Center, with more bouts to be revealed in the coming weeks.

The post Michelle Waterson Signs Huge Fight For UFC On FOX 24 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

UFC Confirms Waterson vs. Namajunas for Kansas City in April

The UFC’s debut in Kansas City, MO has been confirmed, with a key strawweight fight in tow. During tonight’s UFC 208 broadcast, the promotion officially announced that UFC on Fox 24 will take place, as was previously reported, in KC — with an exciting fight between Michelle Waterson vs. Rose Namajunas. Waterson (14-4), the former […]

The UFC’s debut in Kansas City, MO has been confirmed, with a key strawweight fight in tow. During tonight’s UFC 208 broadcast, the promotion officially announced that UFC on Fox 24 will take place, as was previously reported, in KC — with an exciting fight between Michelle Waterson vs. Rose Namajunas. Waterson (14-4), the former […]

Poll: Are You Sick Of ‘Money Fights’ Yet?

Recently, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has seen a massive uptick in top fighters calling for so-called ‘money fights’ in their next bout rather than the fight that makes the most sense from a rankings and/or merit standpoint. The term rose to extreme prominence in early 2016, when current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor began

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Recently, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has seen a massive uptick in top fighters calling for so-called ‘money fights’ in their next bout rather than the fight that makes the most sense from a rankings and/or merit standpoint.

The term rose to extreme prominence in early 2016, when current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor began throwing about his now-infamous ‘moneyweight’ comment about his fight with late replacement Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 196, a fight McGregor would actually suffer his first UFC loss in. But ‘money fights’ were here to stay, and McGregor only added fuel to that fire when he took on Eddie Alvarez to win his second UFC championship at November 2016’s UFC 205.

The upper echelons of the UFC roster – who are solid drawing fighters in their own right but nowhere near McGregor – justifiably see what ‘The Notorious’ is pulling in each fight, and that coupled with the UFC’s recent sale to Hollywood giant WME-IMG for a staggering $4.2 billion has them understandably wanting to be paid like top athletes. But the problem is, not as many want to see some of these so-called ‘money fights’ even close to as much as they’d want to see any fight with McGregor.

Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley began calling for a huge payday literally minutes after he knocked out Robbie Lawler to win the title last August, pegging Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz as his prospective big draw opponents. When he was instead scheduled to face Stephen Thompson at UFC 205 and fought “Wonderboy” to a draw, Woodley then began putting out the feelers for a ‘money fight’ with middleweight champion Michael Bisping. The term has also been used by newly-crowned bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, who wants to face featherweight champion Jose Aldo, and by Rose Namajunas for her desired match with surging contender Michelle Waterson.

Those are big fights, but they just aren’t bouts on the level of a true ‘money fight’ headlined by McGregor, and overall some of of these champions will just have to start defending their belts rather than calling their shots for potentially huge paydays. That’s not to say some kind of super fight, such as a long-rumored GSP vs. Anderson Silva bout, wouldn’t be good for the sport in a barren schedule of early 2017 bouts lacking a true feature attraction.

What do you think – is all the ‘money fight’ talk getting old, or do you understand the fighters’ points of view?

The post Poll: Are You Sick Of ‘Money Fights’ Yet? appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Rose Namajunas: Fight With Michelle Waterson ‘Makes The Most Sense’

rose-namajunas-paige-vanzant-ufc-fight-night-80

https://youtu.be/HANtwvipb8U?t=3205

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s strawweight Rose Namajunas has her sights set on returning to the Octagon. The last time we saw “Thug Rose” compete, she fell short in a split decision loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz. The “Polish Princess” went on to face Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the 115-pound championship at UFC 205 in New York City.

Namajunas has gone 3-1 in her last four bouts, and she has the itch to throw leather again. She appeared on MMAFighting.com‘s The MMA Hour and revealed when she’d like to return:

“I’m cool with February, I’m cool with March, either way. March sounds like a good time.”

After Michelle Waterson’s win over Paige VanZant last month, Namajunas said she would welcome a bout with “The Karate Hottie.” “Thug Rose” still believes that is a fight that should be made.

“I think it kind of makes the most sense. Every time there’s a strawweight fight, I always get messages, ‘oh you should fight Rose,’ or, ‘Rose should fight them,’ and it’s just like, it’s cool and everything. But there was a noticeable difference, the amount of people recommending I fight somebody, and then [the amount saying I should fight] Michelle. It was a crazy amount of responses.”

Calling out Waterson didn’t exactly yield the type of reaction Namajunas was expecting. While fans responded in droves, they were mostly positive about the proposed match-up. “Thug Rose” had anticipated a different vibe.

“So, that just makes the most sense. It would be the most exciting I think. She’s coming off of a hot win, and it’s just, she won in really fast fashion and she looks great and she’s marketable. I’m marketable. It makes sense. I’d love to fight anybody, really, at this point. I was hoping maybe I’d call her out and there’d be some type of backlash or some type of noise created out of it, but it’s just more of the fans going, ‘yeah, that’s a good idea.’ So it’s kind of like, either way.”

rose-namajunas-paige-vanzant-ufc-fight-night-80

https://youtu.be/HANtwvipb8U?t=3205

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s strawweight Rose Namajunas has her sights set on returning to the Octagon. The last time we saw “Thug Rose” compete, she fell short in a split decision loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz. The “Polish Princess” went on to face Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the 115-pound championship at UFC 205 in New York City.

Namajunas has gone 3-1 in her last four bouts, and she has the itch to throw leather again. She appeared on MMAFighting.com‘s The MMA Hour and revealed when she’d like to return:

“I’m cool with February, I’m cool with March, either way. March sounds like a good time.”

After Michelle Waterson’s win over Paige VanZant last month, Namajunas said she would welcome a bout with “The Karate Hottie.” “Thug Rose” still believes that is a fight that should be made.

“I think it kind of makes the most sense. Every time there’s a strawweight fight, I always get messages, ‘oh you should fight Rose,’ or, ‘Rose should fight them,’ and it’s just like, it’s cool and everything. But there was a noticeable difference, the amount of people recommending I fight somebody, and then [the amount saying I should fight] Michelle. It was a crazy amount of responses.”

Calling out Waterson didn’t exactly yield the type of reaction Namajunas was expecting. While fans responded in droves, they were mostly positive about the proposed match-up. “Thug Rose” had anticipated a different vibe.

“So, that just makes the most sense. It would be the most exciting I think. She’s coming off of a hot win, and it’s just, she won in really fast fashion and she looks great and she’s marketable. I’m marketable. It makes sense. I’d love to fight anybody, really, at this point. I was hoping maybe I’d call her out and there’d be some type of backlash or some type of noise created out of it, but it’s just more of the fans going, ‘yeah, that’s a good idea.’ So it’s kind of like, either way.”

Michelle Waterson Seeking Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Rose Namajunas After Marquee Win

michelle-waterson-ufc-fox-22-scrum

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPN0KGTdbxM[/embed]

Michelle Waterson understands the game of MMA.

The “Karate Hottie” believes now is the time to cash-in following her submission win over Paige VanZant at UFC on FOX 22 this past weekend.

Waterson, in an interview with The MMA Hour, named several of the strawweight divisions elite – including the champion – as potential fights next.

“I really respect Rose (Namajunas), I think she’s a great person,” Waterson said. “I think it would be an awesome matchup. (Daniel Cormier) was wanting me to call out Carla (Esparza). Even Karolina (Kowalkiewicz), that’s what (Dominick) Cruz wanted. Those three.

“Even Joanna (Jedrzejczyk), I would love to fight Joanna. Any of those names really sound like interesting fights to me. We’ll just have to kinda see what we can do as far as negotiating those fights and where each one of those will take us.”

The fight with VanZant came after a 17-month layoff for Waterson, a former Invicta FC atomweight champion. She also discussed her pay, which shocked many when it was revealed by the California Athletic Commission at $15,000 to show and another $15,000 to win.

“It is a little embarrassing,” Waterson said. “But we’re going to fix it. I hope so. I hope they know what they have in me, because I’m not going out there just to cruise. I’m here for the UFC, to represent the UFC in the best light that I can, and hopefully they see the value in that.”

michelle-waterson-ufc-fox-22-scrum

Michelle Waterson understands the game of MMA.

The “Karate Hottie” believes now is the time to cash-in following her submission win over Paige VanZant at UFC on FOX 22 this past weekend.

Waterson, in an interview with The MMA Hour, named several of the strawweight divisions elite – including the champion – as potential fights next.

“I really respect Rose (Namajunas), I think she’s a great person,” Waterson said. “I think it would be an awesome matchup. (Daniel Cormier) was wanting me to call out Carla (Esparza). Even Karolina (Kowalkiewicz), that’s what (Dominick) Cruz wanted. Those three.

“Even Joanna (Jedrzejczyk), I would love to fight Joanna. Any of those names really sound like interesting fights to me. We’ll just have to kinda see what we can do as far as negotiating those fights and where each one of those will take us.”

The fight with VanZant came after a 17-month layoff for Waterson, a former Invicta FC atomweight champion. She also discussed her pay, which shocked many when it was revealed by the California Athletic Commission at $15,000 to show and another $15,000 to win.

“It is a little embarrassing,” Waterson said. “But we’re going to fix it. I hope so. I hope they know what they have in me, because I’m not going out there just to cruise. I’m here for the UFC, to represent the UFC in the best light that I can, and hopefully they see the value in that.”

Fights We Want To See: Rose Namajunas Calls Out The Karate Hottie

The post Fights We Want To See: Rose Namajunas Calls Out The Karate Hottie appeared first on Cagepotato.

Please make this happen.

Michelle Waterson won the biggest fight of her career last saturday. After defeating the much hyped Paige Vanzant in a shocking first round submission, the “karate hottie” was on top of the world. She had a big win, a big bonus, and her family there to boot. But as in true MMA fashion, the question on everyone’s lips was who she would fight next? Well there was one name we just found undeniable, and that name was Rose Namajunas.

What’s great about this fight is that these ladies are both vastly improved strikers with a wicked ground game. Although Rose Namajunas was momentarily derailed by Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 202 she’s very much still in the hunt; and with Waterson’s high profile victory against Paige last weekend you’ve got to think she’s now in the straw weight conversation.  Rose delivered a polite but no nonsense call out to the former atom weight after the fight.

First off I want to congratulate @karatehottiemma on a SPECTACULAR performance! You showed tremendous growth and hunger as a fighter/mother/wife/cool person since knowing you so hats off to you! Secondly I want to acknowledge the messages I’ve been getting from my fans that this is the next matchup y’all want to see! Me too! Make it happen @danawhite@ufc

She’s right Dana, we all want to see it, make it happen! Coming from a 105lb weight class, Waterson is the smaller fighter, and although her jiu jitsu seems to be firing on all cylinders, Rose is a beast to get to the ground. Even if you get her there, she’s not exactly a Sage Northcutt, with 5 wins by submission (3 RNC, flying armbar, Kimura) the fights not exactly over. And with a nickname like “Thug Rose” Namajunas, what’s not to love?

By hook or by crook, this fight needs to happen, and hopefully fairly soon. Let us know what you think of this potential matchup, are you guys interested or is it a pass?

 

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