Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is eager for UFC gold after moving up in the division.
The fighter was last seen in the cage when she defeated Tracy Cortez at UFC Denver. The victory was her second in a row, and she has since been out of the cage. However, the fight revealed that she will be making an appearance at the UFC Edmonton. She will compete against Eric Blanchfield in a flyweight bout. Blanchfield is fresh off a decision loss to Manon Fiorot.
Although Namajunas is slated to face the “Cold Blooded,” she has her eyes set on Fiorot, who is set to face flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko. Namajunas is gunning for a title bout, and she believes defeating her newest opponent and facing Fiorot afterwards will improve her chances.
“Anything’s possible and, yeah, that’s my intention. To really put on a good performance, enough to where there’s no doubt that I could be next.” Namajunas told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 246 media day. “
“With her, what’s kind of unique is that she kind of has a sort of cycle that she puts people through,” said Namajunas, who’s won back-to-back fights against Amanda Ribas and Tracy Cortez. “If she can somehow get to her little cycle, she just finds her zone and is very comfortable in that, and people are very uncomfortable in that. What’s good about my preparation and everything like that is I’ve done a lot of work on preparing that cycle from even happening. And even if something does get started at some point. I’m very confident in my ability to adapt and to survive or, you know, get back to a good place. We studied her a lot
Although Foriot is slated to face Shevchenko, Namajunas doesn’t mind filling those shoes.
“I just kind of feel as if Manon deserves it next anyway, regardless of what I do. She technically has a (win) over me. I do feel like, if that was a five-round fight, I think I could’ve found a way to win. I was finding it toward the end, but it is what it is.
Namajunas is looking forward to her bout with Blanchfield as she expects a tough opponent.
“If she wins the belt, then that would be great to fight her again or even have that dream matchup with Valentina one day. I’d be excited to see them fight. But if the UFC wanted to put me ahead of that with a very spectacular performance. I’d be open to that, as well”.
