Rose Namajunas Is Already Game Planning For Weili Zhang
Rose Namajunas has already begun preparing for a fight against strawweight champion Weili Zhang after edging Jessica Andrade in their highly anticipated rematch at UFC 251.
Namajunas who was previously knocked out by the Brazilian dictated the opening two rounds on ‘Fight Island’ this past weekend. Andrade rallied in the third and hurt ‘Thug Rose’ who did well to survive the round a pick up a precious win.
Speaking to ESPN on Wednesday Namajunas’ fiancé, Pat Barry revealed they had already begun game-planning for a fight against Zhang, he said.
“We started game planning for Weili in the hospital in Abu Dhabi. She’s been training, she’s never taken a day off, never. She’s training right now. She watched (Namajunas’ last) fight.”
Namajuna spoke to about how much fun she had at UFC 251 and the pride she felt after beating a much-improved version of Andrade, she said.
“I loved it, yeah. I loved it even more considering the improvement Andrade made. I was happy with the level of prepared I was. Going into the third, I knew she was gonna come out a little desperate. Anticipating that was like, ‘Ooh, gotta be extra sharp.’ Obviously I got caught, but overall I was just so proud of myself.”
Next up should be a shot at 155lb champion Zhang who defended her title against former champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk earlier this year in one of the greatest fights of all-time. Namajunas is excited by the potential match-up although she admits discussions are yet to take place for the bout.
“I mean, I would think so. We haven’t really talked about it yet, but that’s definitely the plan,” Namajunas said. “… That was kind of the plan going into it. I just have to get this nose fixed first. I don’t know what the recovery time is or whatever.”
“Ever since I saw her fight Tecia (Torres), I’ve been scouting her out a little bit,” Namajunas said. “I just think it’s gonna be a beautiful display of martial arts. She’s a master; I’m a master. It’s gonna be really cool. …
“I would love to fight her. She’s awesome. She’s really technical, really strong, just overall a master. That’s something that really interests me a lot.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)
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