Rose Namajunas predicts how her fight against Weili Zhang will pan out at UFC 261
Rose Namajunas seems to have a concrete gameplan going into her title fight against Zhang Weili at UFC 261. In a recent episode of Ariel Helwani's MMA Show, Rose Namajunas shared her plans for the big day.
The former UFC women's strawweight champion didn't view her opponent any differently than her other foes. Revealing her plans to take the fight to the ground, Namajunas told Ariel Helwani:
“Pretty same as I always kind of envision all of my fights. Go in there, punch their face, take their back and choke them out. That’s my gameplan every time going in there. It manifests a little differently each time but that’s gonna be my goal.”
Rose Namajunas had previously lost the UFC strawweight title to Jessica Andrade at UFC 237. However, 'Thug' Rose would avenge her loss against Andrade a year later at UFC 251 with a Fight of the Night performance.
Zhang Weili captured the title with a first round knockout of Jessica Andrade in May 2019 which also marked her 20th consecutive victory. 'Magnum' would then go on to successfully defend her title in one of the greatest fights in UFC history, earning a split decision over former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248.
Rose Namajunas on Jessica Andrade
On the same night that Rose Namajunas makes her second bid for the title, Jessica Andrade will challenge Valentina Shevchenko for the UFC women's flyweight strap. Talking about the unnatural power of her former opponent, Rose Namajunas said:
"That’s pretty interesting, I think they both have opportunities to expose each other. Valentina (Shevchenko) just has to make sure that she doesn’t sleep on her (Jessica Andrade). I think that, it’s tough to say because all it takes for Andrade is just to connect one time."
"I have never been hit like that before. And I train with Valentina and Valentina has some serious power as well but Andrade hits different. So Andrade could put a chink in Valentina’s armor but that’s really hard to find on her. You know, Andrade’s gotta watch out for the left high kick, the left body kick and honestly that’s kind of the main thing. But Valentina’s grappling is also super stellar so I think they both have really dangerous tools to pose against each other."