Rose Namajunas undergoes successful nose surgery, eyes fight with Zhang Weili
According to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, former UFC women’s strawweight champion “Thug” Rose Namajunas underwent successful nose surgery today.
After a lengthy layoff, Namajunas returned to action on the main card of last weekend’s UFC 251 from Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, scoring a split-decision victory in a rematch against fellow former 115-pound titleholder Jessica Andrade. In the aftermath of the bout, Namajunas revealed that she had broken her nose in the third round.
Prior to the win over Andrade, Namajunas hadn’t competed since May 2019 when she lost her title to Andrade via brutal knockout in enemy territory in Brazil. She then dealt with various issues that kept her outside of the octagon until UFC 251.
Now back in the win column, however, “Thug” Rose is right back in the running for a UFC title shot given her 10-4 overall record and status as one of the best strawweights in the world. And a title shot against current champion Zhang Weili is definitely something that interests Namajunas.
“I would love to fight her,” Namajunas told Helwani. “She’s awesome. Really technical, really strong. That’s something that interests me a lot. Ever since I saw her fight Tecia [Torres], I’ve been scouting her out a little bit, and I think it’s just going to be a beautiful display of martial arts. She’s a master, I’m a master. It’s going to be really cool.”
With a 21-1 overall record, China’s Weili has quickly risen through the ranks of women’s MMA, winning the title with a vicious 42-second stoppage victory over Andrade last August and then successfully defending it in a five-round war against former titleholder Joanna Jedrzejczyk this past March. The fight against Jedrzejczyk is without question one of the very best fights in recent memory.
Given the current state of the world and Namajunas’ recent surgery, it’s unclear what type of timeline both fighters would be looking at, but a matchup between Weili and “Thug” Rose could very well be on the horizon.
