Rose Namajunas Says Joanna Still Not Accepting The Reality That I Beat Her Twice
Following retaining her Strawweight title after beating Joanna Jedrzejcyk at UFC 223 in April, Rose Namajunas is taking some time off to let her neck fracture to heal. Namajunas made her words clear many times she wouldn’t grant Jedrzejczyk another rematch who she knocked out in the first round at UFC 217 back in November and most recently until ex-champ publicly accept that she’s the best strawweight in the world.
Meanwhile, Joanna got back onto the winning column last month (July 28, 2018) by defeating Tecia Torres at UFC on FOX 30. After the win, Joanna called for a shot at the title despite suffered consecutive defeats to current champion; whom Joanna still refuses to call the best fighter in the division, instead of label herself the queen.
Namajunas said such words don’t bother her, but former champion isn’t doing herself any favors by not accepting the reality.
“It don’t really bother me,” Namajunas told MMA Fighting. “I know at this point it just kind of sounds silly. The more she talks, the more she just makes herself sound stupid.”
”For me, I like to just try and be positive about everything as much as possible. Of course, you can get dragged into silly shit. I just remind myself that she was a great champion. I looked up to her at one point in my life for a reason and I just try and remember what she did for the sport and just kind of leave it at that. She was a great champion, but now it’s my time. And eventually she’s gotta come to terms with that and be OK with it.”
Rose said she’ll soon be ready to defend her title and doesn’t anticipate that will against Joanna. Also, questions if Joanna really wants to fight the best.
“I don’t know what she’s thinking, really,” Namajunas continued later. “But I know what she’s saying and she’s saying I’m scared of this or that. I think all that’s really showing is she don’t want to fight the best. She don’t want to fight me, when she knows I’m the best. She wants me to try and lose to somebody else or something, so she can challenge them or something. But she doesn’t really want to beat the best — and that’s me.”
“Regardless of whatever she wants, whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen and I’m gonna still keep living my life and just remember that she was a great champion. She was a great champion.”
Joanna is not ready to give Namaujunas a credit of being the best in the division, so a rematch seems unlikely. The current champion is eyeing a winner of Jessica Andrade vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz showdown at UFC 228, in a hope to cement herself the no.1 contender.
