Rose Namajunas Reportedly Withdraws From UFC 249 Rematch Against Jessica Andrade
Rose Namajunas not fighting at UFC 249
According to a report from Combate, former UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas has withdrawn from her scheduled UFC 249 rematch against fellow former titleholder Jessica Andrade for unknown reasons.
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, it was recently unclear whether or not UFC 249, which is set for April 18, would even be taking place given the fact that nearly every other sport has essentially shut down to combat the pandemic.
Earlier, this week, however, UFC President Dana White announced that he had secured a location to host the event. He also announced a revised lineup of fights with the main event set to be an interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje.
Ferguson was originally slated to challenge undisputed titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov in the headliner, while Namajunas and Andrade were scheduled to compete in the co-main event.
“Thug Rose” has been out of action since suffering a vicious stoppage defeat against Andrade when the two met last May in Brazil. Prior to that, she had won three-straight fights including back-to-back victories over former longtime champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Andrade, meanwhile, hasn’t competed since dropping a brutal 42-second defeat to reigning titleholder Zhang Weili this past August in China. Prior to that, the 28-year-old Brazilian had been a winner of four straight.
As far as what the future holds for Andrade, it appears as if she’s hoping to remain on the card.
“We’ll fight anyone,” Andrade’s manager Tiago Okamura told MMAFighting.com. “Flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight. Whatever it is, we’re in. We won’t go back home without a fight.”
