- Rose Namajunas looked back at Jessica Andrade’s scary slam on her at UFC 237
- “Thug” is certain she can do a lot of things when she finally faces Carla Esparza
Reigning strawweight champion Rose Namajunas will step inside the octagon once again to defend her title against Carla Esparza next week at UFC 274. Ahead of the match, “Thug” made some shocking revelations about Jessica Andrade’s slam on her neck and how she will perform in her next fight.
Thank you Jessica!
In a recent interview with Morning Kombat, Namajunas was quizzed to comment on Andrade’s vicious slam on her at UFC 237 that saw her seemingly breaking her neck.
According to the champ, it may have looked too painful but in reality, she finished the fight “unscathed” and her neck problems even miraculously went away after the slam.
“With [Jessica] Andrade, I mean, that was just a complete, total stripping away of any innocence as far as…I got slammed on my neck and then I got my nose broken second fight,” Namajunas revealed. “The first fight was so different from the second fight. I didn’t really actually sustain any damage, even though I got like, KOed. Actually, the neck problems that I had went away after getting slammed on my neck, which is kinda weird. It was sort of a miracle for me. I came out of that fight unscathed basically.”
That looked painful. #UFC237 pic.twitter.com/zRCZi0f4QS
— Andrew Joseph (@AndyJ0seph) May 12, 2019
“I never thought about actually getting it checked out like, afterwards. But before, I had a fracture in my C6, and then I also had spinal stenosis,” she continued. “It would like, make my arm feel weak sometimes, just lifting up my arm. I would get these terrible headaches and stuff. Sometimes if I’m wrestling a lot and grappling, my neck would be a little bit sore. I used to have to put my head in the ice bath backwards just cause my headaches would be so bad. And that was leading up to my first fight with her [Andrade]… Afterward, I experienced none of those symptoms anymore,” added Namajunas. “I should probably see if I still have those problems.”
“360 spin kick or karate chop”
Namajunas is set to meet another familiar face in her next fight as she rematches her TUF 20 nemesis, Esparza.
It can be recalled that Esparza submitted Namajunas in the first bout. After almost eight years, “Thug” is confident that between her and “Cookie Monster,” she’s the one who has the ability to do a wide array of things aside from the original game plan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsS-jeK9PDM
“For this fight, there’s no mystery that Carla [Esparza] likes taking people out,” the 29-year-old explained. “I’m a very offensive fighter so that’s something that I’ve worked on, like self-control, and my defense, really solidifying my defense.”
“Also, another thing that I’ve had to work on is like my self-control and my discipline and consistency,” she added. “And that’s always kind of been like regular thing for my career. For this fight in particular that’s been a very huge focus. And that’s where Carla is good at. She’s very disciplined and consistent. She very rarely strays away from her game plan. Where as, for me it’s like I can do so many things so it’s easy for me to get like sidetracked. I could throw a 360 spin kick or I can throw a karate chop, you know what I mean, like it doesn’t matter.”
Namajunas will defend her strawweight title for the first time this year and she’s obviously expecting to have a successful one. The division’s No. 1 contender, Zhang Weili and former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, on the other hand, will be scrapping at UFC 275 for another crack at the title.
