Rose Namajunas views herself as the favorite against Jessica Andrade
At UFC 237, Rose Namajunas the strawweight champion will enter hostile territory when she fights Jessica Andrade. Namajunas, who is looking for her second successful title defense is heading to Andrade’s home country of Brazil to headline UFC 237 on May 11.
Namjunas, however, has not fought since UFC 223 in Brooklyn, New York back in April of 2018. She was visibly shaken up after the Conor McGregor dolly attack and had a neck injury to deal with. Since then, Andrade has a very impressive knockout win over Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 228 to set herself up as the clear cut contender. And, surprisingly, Andrade is the favorite on the betting lines. But, to the champion in Namajunas, she believes she is the favorite and is viewing herself as such.
“That’s probably true, but I don’t look at it that way,” Namjuans said at a UFC 237 press conference. “In my own head, I view myself as the favorite because I just have that much confidence in myself and I know what I’m capable of. I think we each have our game plan and I believe mine is better than hers and I believe May 11th it’s gonna show.”
As well, this will be Namajunas’ first fight not against Joanna Jedrezjczyk since November 2017. For her, it is refreshing to fight someone else.
“It’s a refreshing feeling. I had to deal with Joanna for a very long time. She’s still out there putting my name in her mouth. I’m very grateful for that experience and I’m even grateful for her being as dominant a champion as she was. She did a lot for the sport. I’m always gonna be grateful for that, but I’m also equally as grateful for the opportunity to challenge myself against Andrade. She poses a lot of other challenges that I didn’t have to deal with [in] Joanna. I’m really just looking forward to it and figuring out how to crack the code and come out with the win.”
