The Most Savage Beauty | StrawWeight Queen: Rose Namajunas
SteemSports Presenter: @brandonk
SteemSports Editor: @theprophet0
Rose is the embodiment of everything beautiful...and everything vicious. This perennial UFC straw weight contender had strong push from the promotion nearly a half decade ago now, but the style match-ups at the top of the division proved to be too much for her jujitsu centric game-plan.
Rose was always a sweet, yet emotional person on The Ultimate Fighter series. She had seemed to struggle with personal demons, and really made no friends or enemies in the interim of the reality show's run. It was surely incredible when fans were able to see her reach of the pinnacle of the division late last year...
...but her win brings up many questions. Rose was able to not only dominate the undefeated champion who ruled the division for nearly three years, but she humiliated her by forcing a tap to strikes. Joanna will surely have her chance at redemption soon, but that is for another time.
The true question arises when Rose is seen for her past performances, and how she wasn't able to beat women Joanna had dominated and finished. A champion must defend the belt against everyone, and even with a win in the rematch, can Rose defeat the rest of these powerful contenders?
Women like Jessica Andrade and Claudia Gadehla can be seen as absolute nightmares against a pure striking and jiu jitsu specialist such as Rose. The level of Brazilian jujitsu at the top nearly cancels Rose out on the ground completely, and we still haven't seen Rose's cardio as of late.
I would love to see Rose evolve and retain the belt...it would almost be an ode to the past confidence fans and the UFC had entrusted her with. Rose is an adorably sweet person with good intentions, and win or lose, she is definitely one of my favorite fighters of all time.
I can't remember why it was but do remember that I didn't particularly like her while she was on TUF. After that though, I think around the time she shaved her head and fought PVZ she won me over and I became a fan.
I couldn't believe it when she beat Joanna and think her post fight interview after that is one of the best moments ever.
she looks much nicer with the long hair, and very humble unlike the boogeywoman. lol
Upvoted ☝ Have a great day!
Good post.