UFC strawweight champ Zhang Weili sympathizes with Rose Namajunas’ lackluster performance against Carla Esparza, which cost “Thug Rose” the title. Weili herself put Esparza away with a vicious rear naked choke to earn the title, but took the opportunity on The MMA Hour to discuss how a champion can fail to deliver fireworks.
“I experienced the same thing. Once you become the champ, there’s a tremendous amount of pressure on you to hold onto the belt dearly, and I felt the same thing before. So I kind of understand what she went through.
Zhang Weili Demands Thug Rose Trilogy Fight
I think that Rose wanted to keep the belt and have a pleasant fight, and that’s impossible.” Weili continued, expressing her position on the “pressure” of holding a UFC title, and how that can affect a champ’s performance in the Octagon. Her focus from now in is simply moving forward and improving her performance.
“I don’t have pressure now. I want to surpass myself, go beyond the old version of Weili. The belt itself is just something that’s evidence for me to show that I keep on improving. That’s the way that I look at it now.
Obviously, you can’t be the champ forever, regardless of who you are. I train at the [UFC Performance Institute] every day, when I come up, there’s a picture of Hall of Fame fighters, great fighters, historical figures from the MMA game, and these people, they are not champions forever. So I understand that. One day, whatever happens, right now I can just focus on moving forward.”
Weili, who is 0-2 against Namajunas in their last two fights, believes that she can improve on her past performances and earn a victory. In fact, she looks forward to facing the former two-time division champ in a title defense. The sooner, the better. Weili believes that Rose Namajunas still has it in her to fight for a UFC title once more.
“I still want to meet her again for sure, maybe not immediately, the next title defense. But we’ll definitely run into each other down the road.”
Namajunas has not competed since the Esparza fight, and currently has no fights booked. Weili has also not yet booked her first title defense. It’s unlikely, given the caliber of her last UFC outing, that Namajunas would compete for a title in the near future, but far stranger things have happened in the world of MMA.
What did you think of Namajunas vs Esparza? Let us know in the comments.
