Rose Namajunas Doesn’t Believe Joanna Jedrzejczyk Has Had Enough Time To Reinvent Herself

The UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas will defend her title for the first time on April 7 when she faces Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 223.

Namajunas shocked the world when she defied the odds last November and defeated Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217 to capture the title. With the rematch now set for Brooklyn, New York, Namajunas spoke to UFC Unfiltered about how the Pole had reacted to the first fight. Jedrzejczyk has spoken multiple times about how the weight cut affected her performance, but unsurprisingly, Namajunas doesn’t think that was the sole reason why she lost.

“I think she’s taking the pressure off a little bit by saying it was the weight cut and saying it was that,” Namajunas said. “I think it’s very important that fighters cut weight healthy and not to do so much, yet we’re still fighting at 115-pounds. That could be a concern you know. I hope she does it right.

“Obviously, the goals is to inflict damage on our opponent, but at the end of the day I want them to go back to their family, happy, healthy and safe.”

With the rematch between the two taking place within 5 months of the first fight, Namajunas doesn’t believe that Jedrzejczyk will have been able to make the corrections she needs to in her game. Having comeback from two defeats herself previously, Namajunas feels she’s in a good position to be able to tell what she will have needed to do.

“We will see, maybe something went wrong the last time, but we will see,” Namajunas said. “I know for a fact that there was more to it than just the weight cut.

“I know for a fact that in order to catch up with what I’ve learned, I’ve had to go an reinvent myself. I don’t think she’s had enough time to do that.”

UFC 223 will be headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson fighting for either the interim or official UFC lightweight title.