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Yan Xiaonan was not a big fan of Rose Namajunas' political talk.
The Lithuanian-American said ahead of her strawweight title fight against Zhang Weili at UFC 261 that the Chinese fighter's background served as a "huge motivating factor" for her.
She used the infamous Cold War-era slogan "better red than dead" to describe the emotion.
Ahead of her UFC Vegas 27 fight against Carla Esparza a month later, Yan, also a Chinese fighter, condemned Namajunas' statements. Speaking With the South China Morning Post, she said:
"I don’t like that. Don’t think she should bring politics into sports. Sports is a way to unite people. But what she did is just separate people. We’re different. We have different thoughts. And everybody can have her or his own thoughts. She can say what she wants but she cannot change anything."
Unfortunately, not everyone felt the same way.
Zhang was booed by fans at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on April 24, 2021, where she got knocked out by Namajunas with a head-kick knockout. There were reports of racially charged comments directed at her during her walkout as well as her return to the backstage.
This came after Namajunas' comments ahead of the fight.
What did Rose Namajunas say about Zhang Weili?
Rose Namajunas said she had nothing against Zhang personally, but she represented China which is a Communist country and something Namajunas felt strongly about.
'Thug' said in an interview with Lithuanian National Public LRT [Via: South China Morning Post]:
"And I kind of wanted to educate my training partner Chico Camus of the Lithuanian struggle and just the history of it all. So we watched 'The Other Dream Team' just to get an overall sentiment of what we fight for. And so just after watching that it was just a huge reminder of it’s better dead than red."
The 2012 documentary tells the story of the Lithuanian national basketball team winning the bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics amid the fall of the Soviet Union and the independence of their country. She said:
"I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Weili is red, that’s what she represents. It’s nothing personal against her, but that’s a huge motivating factor of why I fight."
In response, Zhang chose to dismiss the comments, stating that she believed it was a "joke".
After suffering two back-to-back losses, Namajunas has reportedly chosen to remain in the flyweight division and take on Amanda Ribas on March 23, 2024.
Yan, meanwhile will challenge Zhang in a historic first-ever all-Chinese title bout at UFC 300 with the strawweight belt on the line.
