Rose Namajunas Expecting Joanna Jedrzejczyk Rematch: ‘It’s The Fight People Want To See’
The UFC’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is targeting a return in the second quarter of the year and she’s expecting to be involved in a rematch with the woman she beat at UFC 217, Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Speaking to MMA Junkie backstage at UFC Fight Night 124 last evening, Namajunas was asked if she was expecting to rematch Jedrzejczyk in her next fight and she didn’t hesitate to confirm she thought she would be.
“Yeah for a different number of reasons,” Namajunas said. “I think that’s definitely the fight that people want to see, but I’m open to fighting anybody so we will see.”
When we will see the rematch remains to be see, but according to the champion fans will have to wait until at least April to see the two back in the Octagon together.
“I’ve got some travelling coming up later this month, so I was thinking at least until spring just, you know, have some date in spring or summer,” Namajunas said. “Maybe, April through July, we will see. I’m open, pretty open.”
The bully vs the victim was very much the storyline throughout the pre-fight build-up between Namajunas and Jedrzejczyk, but the now champion said she never took anything to heart. According to Namajunas, Jedrzejczyk was simply doing what she needed to do to get herself ready for the fight, but she did warn that it would be unwise to try similar tactics again.
“I never really took anything personally,” Namajunas said. “Even after the fact. That was just what she needed to do and that was her best strategy to beat me and it didn’t work, and it’s still not going to work.”
With the belt now on her shoulder, Namajunas is now just looking forward to defending her title and remaining the woman to beat at 115-pounds. The champion believes she’s now found the winning recipe and that it’s going to be the one she uses for the foreseeable future.
“After I fought Michelle [Watterson], that’s when it most changed for me,” Namajunas said. “It was last fight where I had the chance to experiment with anything. We had the formula which makes me most successful. You can’t control everything, but you can control yourself and figure out the best way possible.
“Going into this last fight, it was a different level that I had to bring it to, but it’s the same formula and it’s going to be that for the rest of my career.”
