Rose Namajunas, a new UFC women’s strawweight champion will make the first defense of her 115lbs title against former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the co-main event of UFC 223, which goes down on April 7 in Brooklyn, New York.
The bout will be a rematch of the first title fight at UFC 217, where Namajunas captured the crown by smashing and trashing Jedrezjczyk’s reign back in November.
Despite the fact that Rose Namajunas won the first clash, she has once again been classified as the underdog in this fight.
As per, veteran oddsmaker Joey Oddessa, who has labelled Namajunas as a +180 underdog, while the former strawweight champ Jedrzejczyk -225 favorite. By breaking it down, a successful bet of $100 on Rose Namajunas would earn you $180, meanwhile, it would take a successful bet of $225 on Jedrzejczyk to win $100.
Veteran MMA oddsmaker Joey Oddessa, explains opening odds to MMAJunkie:
“This is the type of fight stats guys live for,” Oddessa said. “It’s about where the challenger is favored, and it’s a rematch of a bout the underdog and current champion won by a shocking first-round stoppage as a close to 5-1 underdog. Statisticians will sharpen their pencils and scratch out all the reasons why they think Rose should be the betting favorite only to get reminded later that night that fights aren’t won on paper. They’re won in the cage.
“And if Jedrzejczyk doesn’t show up as cocky as she did in the first encounter, she’ll look every bit of the 2-to-1 favorite she enters the cage at when the fight’s over.”
Leading up to their fight, Jedrzejczyk’s antics were a hot topic, with the then-champ even invoking Namajunas’ history of mental instability. Before the UFC 217 fight, Joanna was acknowledged as a best female fighter on the planet.
Jedrzejczyk’s knockout loss to Rose Namajunas marked the first defeat of her MMA career.
