Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women’s Strawweight champion, Rose Namajunas, was tonight (Sat., April 7, 2018) out to prove that her first round technical knockout over Joanna Jedrzejczyk back in Nov. 2018 was no fluke in UFC 223’s pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event inside Barclays Arena in Brooklyn, New York.
And Second verse was the same as the first, sorta, as Rose was able to takedown Jedrzejczyk for a second time, even though it came via a technical unanimous decision rather than a shocking first round stoppage.
Jedrzejczyk came out of her corner pumping a jab, looking to get the action started sooner than later. Rose, though, held her ground, bouncing side-to-side and fighting her fight. Jedrzejczyk peppered her with low kicks as Rose fired a straight right down the pike that backed up her opponent. Jedrzejczyk turned up the pressure a bit, but was unable to pull the trigger on anything significant — Rose was super patient. Then she landed a nice right, then another, that seemed to buckle Jedrzejczyk momentarily. Rose put together a nice combination at the buzzer and nearly threw Jedrzejczyk down to the mat before the buzzer blared to end the round.
Rose drilled Jedrzejczyk with a solid combination to start the second stanza, but her Polish opponent responded with a stiff jab. Rose stalked Jedrzejczyk, who didn’t appear super eager to engage, even dropping her hands and goading her to bring it. Rose boxed her up with a nice combination, but Jedrzejczyk appeared to block most of the incoming shots. Rose uncorked a nice shot upstairs and Jedrzejczyk backed off like she was poked in the eye, but the referee didn’t buy it and didn’t stop the action. With less than one minute remaining in the round, the girls had a nice exchange and locked up, but the action ultimately stalled along the fence.
Rose started off the third round by bouncing her fist off Jedrzejczyk’s forehead, but she basically laughed it off and kept plugging away. Jedrzejczyk put together a nice combination, but Rose was unaffected and fired back. Jedrzejczyk landed a sweet headkick, but Rose partially blocked it. Jedrzejczyk chipped away at Rose’s left leg, bust she continued to keep her bounce. Rose opted to close the distance, perhaps looking for a reprieve, but Jedrzejczyk backed away and fired another leg kick — Rose’s inside leg was clearly battered and bruised. It seemed as though Jedrzejczyk was beginning to find her groove just as the championship rounds were about to begin.
Jedrzejczyk turned in a strong effort in the fourth round, but Rose proved that she was more than game in the latter moments of the fight ... particularly in the exchanges. Jedrzejczyk’s face was a mess, but so, too, was Rose’s lead leg, which absorbed an insane amount of punishment. With less than 30 seconds remaining in the bout, Rose scored a huge takedown — her only one of the fight — that more or less sealed her fate on the judges’ scorecards. Indeed, Rose took home a hard-fought unanimous decision in an overall solid fight, proving once and for all that she has Jedrzejczyk’s number.
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