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Curtis Blaydes – who trains with Rose Namajunas at the Elevation Fight Team gym in Denver, Colorado – was seemingly surprised by Namajunas’ most recent performance. The UFC heavyweight also explained what he feels ‘Thug’ should’ve done to win the fight.
Rose Namajunas lost her UFC women’s strawweight title via split decision in an uneventful rematch against Carla Esparza at UFC 274 on May 7. Their first fight transpired in December 2014 and saw Esparza beat Namajunas via third-round submission to become the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight champion.
Speaking to James Lynch, Curtis Blaydes compared the Namajunas-Esparza UFC 274 fight to the widely-criticized 2018 heavyweight bout between Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis. Both fights had negligible action and were forgettable affairs. Additionally, highlighting what Namajunas could’ve done to beat Esparza, Blaydes stated:
“I have no idea. That was very weird. I, yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know why, because I picked up early in the first round like, Rose made Carla look like a Smurf in there. Like, Rose had the reach advantage. She could’ve been touching her a little more with the lead hand and maybe add in some more attacks, kicks, something."
"I don’t know. That was the weirdest fight. It was very reminiscent of Francis Ngannou vs. Derrick Lewis, where both of them just respect each other so much, they didn’t want to engage, which is weird. Like, you have to fight. I don’t know. That’s a weird one. I have no idea.”
Watch Blaydes address the Namajunas-Esparza UFC 274 matchup in the video below:
Carla Esparza believes Rose Namajunas wasn’t her usual self at UFC 274
Curtis Blaydes is expected to face Tom Aspinall in a heavyweight bout set to headline UFC London on July 23. It’s unclear as to whom Rose Namajunas will fight next. Meanwhile, Carla Esparza is likely to defend her strawweight title against the winner of the upcoming rematch between Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Zhang Weili, which will transpire at UFC 275 on June 11.
Esparza subsequently appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and addressed her title win. 'Cookie Monster' indicated that Rose Namajunas hadn’t fought many wrestlers like her, whereas she had fought many strikers like Namajunas, which likely made the difference at UFC 274:
"I definitely feel like she lost the fight to herself. She went in there and she fought... I don't want to say with fear, but she was worried about the takedown and very focused on that and didn't fight her game. And didn't let off as much as she could have. So, I definitely feel like it was a lot of a mental thing."
Watch Carla Esparza on The MMA Hour below:
