R. Namajunas wants to regain his strawweight belt. Photo: Reproduction/Twitter @ufceurope
The former strawweight champion (up to 52,1kg.), Rose namajunas, went through a complicated period after losing her title in a brutal way to the Brazilian Jessica Andrade, in May this year, in Rio de Janeiro. After considering retirement from the sport, the athlete stated that she has regained her love for MMA and will return to the fight to regain her belt. The statement was made in an interview with ‘ESPN’.
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“I lost my passion for martial arts and fighting. Mainly the love of fighting. I found my passion again. I went back to Minnesota (USA) to see one of my coaches from the beginning of my amateur career, Greg Nelson (jiu-jitsu). He is a great inspiration for me”, said the former champion.
Before being defeated by ‘Bate-Estaca’, Rose was on a streak of three consecutive victories. In two of them, the American shocked the world by beating the former division title holder, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, who was considered an unbeatable athlete a few years ago.
Now, in second place in the category ranking and in a new phase of her career, the combatant is willing to resume her journey towards the belt, which no longer belongs to Jéssica, but rather to the Chinese Weili Zhang, who defeated Andrade by knockout in the first round of the main fight at UFC Shenzhen.
“Weili (Zhang) was great and I always want to face the best. Clearly, she's on top now. I want to test myself against her. Whether it's this next fight or I have to fight first. I don't really care about that. It doesn’t matter who I fight, but you should always want to be the best”, concluded Namajunas.
Currently 27 years old, Rose has made 11 appearances since becoming a professional MMA athlete. The combatant has eight victories and three defeats.
More experienced, Zhang, 30, has 21 fights on his record. The Chinese was only defeated once, when she debuted in the sport in 2013.
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