Dethroned UFC strawweight champ Rose Namajunas believes she should have won at UFC 274. Carla Esparza took Namajunas’ belt after a largely uneventful five-round fight, with Namajunas telling the post-fight press conference that she believes she won.
“I won that fight. I stuck to the strategy. I felt as if I landed more shots. I even took her down. None of her takedowns were significant or any control time.
Rose Namajunas Still Believes She Won Despite Lacklustre Performance: “I don’t see how you become the champion like that”
She hit me with, I’d say one good punch and maybe another time her forearm clashed into my nose at some point when we were both standing up, but other than that, maybe a couple low kicks but I didn’t feel them or anything.”
Namajunas continued, clarifying her approach to the fight, which saw the pair simply circling one another and feinting for much of the 25 minutes.“I felt like I did the damage.
I controlled the fight, and I’m proud of myself because I stuck to the strategy. Because I know that in all of Carla’s fights she baits people in and tries to get people to attack her, so it’s like, ‘No.’ I’ve been in slugfests before, I’ve gotten my nose broke, I’ve stood there and shed blood in the octagon, so I stuck to the strategy and she didn’t really have any offense. She was whiffing at air the whole time. So I thought I won.”
Namajunas, who boasts a reputation as one of the most lethal, clinical strikers in the UFC, even criticized her opponent’s fighting style.
“I’m really still trying to process this because I’m not trying to be salty or anything. I feel like there’s something to be learned from each loss. I feel like I could maybe, there were moments where I wanted to capitalize a little bit more, be a little more offensive, but then every time I would step, my foot would slip. So I had to be a little more safe.
That’s a decision I made in that moment, but like I said, I’m an exciting fighter. I’m a finisher. I’ve got one of the highest finishing rates, so I don’t think that I was getting the boos. I’m pretty sure that was Carla. Obviously I want to have exciting fights so that does kind of sting a little bit too.”
Do you think Rose Namajunas earned a win on Saturday night, or did the judges get this one right? Let us know in the comments.
