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What's the story?
Rose Namajunas has now beaten former titlist Joanna Jedrzejczyk twice--dethroning her as UFC Straw-weight Champion with a TKO victory at the UFC 217 event and besting her again at UFC 223.
While Namajunas beat her foe twice, the second fight was a close decision which could've gone either way, owing to which certain sections of fans have been clamoring for a third encounter between the duo in the future.
In case you didn't know...
Presently, Rose Nakajunas is regarded by many as one of the UFC's top young stars--deft in both the striking as well as grappling realms of MMA.
On the other hand, former UFC Women's Straw-weight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk is hailed as one of the best female Muay Thai practitioners to have transitioned to MMA.
The heart of the matter
Jedrzejczyk had blamed the weight cut for her first loss--with most of her coaching staff and team reiterating the same.
Besides, she has insisted that she won the rematch, and criticized Namajunas for taking some time off to heal a compression fracture in her neck. Speaking to MMAFighting.com, Namajunas fired back at Jedrzejczyk:
“It don’t really bother me. I know at this point it just kind of sounds silly. The more she talks, the more she just makes herself sound stupid. For me, I like to just try and be positive about everything as much as possible."
"Of course, you can get dragged into silly sh**. I just remind myself that she was a great champion. I looked up to her at one point in my life for a reason and I just try and remember what she did for the sport and just kind of leave it at that. She was a great champion, but now it’s my time. And eventually she’s gotta come to terms with that and be OK with it.”
What's next?
With Namajunas out with an injury, top contenders Jessica Andrade and Karolina Kowalkiewicz will do battle this September on the UFC 228 card in Dallas, Texas--The winner could likely go on to challenge “Thug” Rose.
Speaking of which, it’ll be interesting if Kowalkiewicz emerges victorious because she holds a split decision win over Namajunas.
Jedrzejczyk is fresh off a victory over Tecia Torres with which he asserted that he deserved another title shot.
What are your thoughts on Rose Namajunas' statements? Sound off in the comments!
