Rose Namajunas refuted Dana White’s recent claim of her not wanting a title shot.
Namajunas was expected to challenge current women’s strawweight champion Weili Zhang next following her impressive unanimous decision victory over Jessica Andrade in July.
However, it was revealed by UFC president Dana White on Wednesday that Namajunas didn’t want a title shot. As a result, Carla Esparza would likely be next in line to face Zhang.
“What I’m hearing is that Rose doesn’t want a title shot,” White told BT Sport. “Rose doesn’t want to fight for a title. I don’t think she did. She doesn’t want to fight for the title, so we’ll see how it all plays out.
“If we’re looking at rankings and how it plays out, it would play out Weili vs. Carla Esparza.”
Namajunas Calls Claim Fake News
It didn’t take long for Namajunas to respond.
The former strawweight queen took to her Instagram story to post the following GIF.
Additionally, her coach and fiance Pat Barry provided a statement to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani stating otherwise.
“That is absolutely not true,” Barry said. “We absolutely want the title fight. Who would turn down a title fight? We just don’t want to air this out publicly. If there was some confusion, they can call us to clear it up.”
Given past history, it’s entirely possible Namajunas and her team are not satisfied with the contract handed out to them by the UFC. As a result, White is putting pressure on her by claiming she doesn’t want the fight.
However, this is only speculation for now as we don’t know the full story and who is telling the truth.
Hopefully, both sides come to an agreement soon as Zhang vs. Namajunas is one of the most exciting fights in the division’s history.
