John McCarthy explains why Rose Namajunas is his Fighter of the Year for 2021
John McCarthy has revealed his pick for Fighter of the Year for 2021.
During a recent episode of the Weighing In podcast, John McCarthy picked current UFC women's strawweight champion Rose Namajunas as his choice for Fighter of the Year.
The former UFC referee was impressed with Namajunas' two wins over Zhang Weili this year:
"No one expected her to beat Weili. They looked at that Weili was gonna beat her. And she came out and starched her with that kick and then rematched her and beat her in the five rounds. Man to me, if you are beating the person who is number one, was the champion and then number one and that's your fights, you're pretty goddamn good."
Furthermore, 'Big John' praised 'Thug Rose' for defeating Joanna Jędrzejczyk at a time when no one else could, not once but twice.
You can catch the full video of John McCarthy talking about his Fighter of the Year pick below:
Rose Namajunas is often considered to be the greatest strawweight of all time. While fans have seen Namajunas' technique evolve, they have also seen her bulletproof mindset emerge over the years. 'Thug Rose' is the only woman in UFC history to reclaim a title.
On this date, Rose Namajunas captured UFC strawweight gold for the first time by defeating Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217 🏆
She seeks to retain her title at #UFC268 on Saturday. https://t.co/1NXKnnud1U
John McCarthy clarifies reason behind calling Derrick Lewis a "gatekeeper"
On another episode of the Weighing In podcast, 'Big John' stated that he loved Derrick Lewis as a fighter and a personality.
However, McCarthy also explained why he considers Derrick Lewis to be a "gatekeeper" in the heavyweight division:
"Derrick Lewis has lost two title fights alright, and there's never a guy I can come up with that's gotten a third. Now, Derrick Lewis might, he might get that third. But there hasn't been anyone that's gotten the third."
Watch the entire episode of the Weighing In podcast below (the Derrick Lewis discussion starts at 1:05:00):
Derrick Lewis faced Daniel Cormier in his first heavyweight title fight at UFC 230 in 2018. Cormier outwrestled 'The Black Beast' in the first round before securing a rear-naked choke in the second to retain his title.
Ciryl Gane recently defeated Lewis and handed him his second title-fight loss. In their interim heavyweight title bout at UFC 265, Gane completely outclassed the Texan on his way to a third-round TKO victory.