Before Rose Namajunas puts her strawweight belt on the line against Joanna Jedrzejeczyk at UFC 223 on Sat., April 7, 2018 inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, take a look back at one of “Thug Rose’s” most dominant and impressive performances.
Back in May of 2015, Rose found herself face-to-face with Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) “it” girl, Paige VanZant, in the headlining bout at UFC Fight Night 80. The two ladies got after if from the jump, with Rose getting the best of the striking exchanges early and often, cutting her up in the very first round.
In fact, Namajunas got the better of Paige -- which to her credit gave it all she had — throughout the five rounds before the current champion ultimately caught her with a rear-naked choke in final round. By then, VanZant had taken plenty of damage and had the blood and cuts to prove it.
Now, Rose will look to defend her 115-pound strap against the same person she took it from at UFC 217 last November, and prove that her first win over Jedrzejczyk was far from a fluke, or luck.
To see who else is fighting at UFC 223: “Ferguson vs Khabib” — which will feature a main event Lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov — click here.
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