Women’s Strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is set to face the challenge of Weili Zhang in the co-main event of UFC 268 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Since the COVID19 outbreak, it’s the first time the UFC is returning to the City that never sleeps, with a completely stacked card with Rose Namajunas having to defend her title against former strawweight champion Weili Zhang. What a fight this promises to be as the two best 115 pounders on the roster go head-to-head for the second time. Namajunas became a two-time champion of the division when she defeated China’s Weili Zhang back in April by KO after just 76 seconds of the fight. THAT stunning head kick finish ranks up there with the top knockouts of 2021 and Thug Rose will be amazing to repeat that.
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In their first fight, Zhang wasn’t happy with the decision of the referee who decided to stop the fight after Rose knocked her down on the canvas with the former champion claiming that she was still defending herself in the fight which created bad blood between the two fighters and makes one thing clear that Zhang is out looking for revenge.
Over the years, we have seen Thug Rose use her quick jabs and incredible footwork which helps her land strikes more effectively and get out of danger easily. Her jabs lay good combo traps and help her counter as well.
As for her opponent, Weili “Magnum” Zhang, is quick with her strikes as well and has that skill of landing swift combos on her opponents which we saw when she fought against Jessica Andrade back in 2019. She’s unstoppable when she gains confidence as she marches forward on her opponent exchanging heavy blows.
PREDICTION: ROSE NAMAJUNAS TO WIN VIA DECISION
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We expect this fight to go the distance, unlike their first fight. It’s going to be a technical masterclass with both the fighters staying on their feet and exchanging heavy blows. Weili needs to put her head down and get into the dogfight whereas like we said Namajunas will use her quick footwork and jabs to land heavy on her opponent and so our pick for the fight will be with the champion to retain her belt via a decision victory.
UFC 268 MAIN CARD:
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▶ KAMARU USMAN VS COLBY COVINGTON 2 – WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
▶ ROSE NAMAJUNAS VS WEILI ZHANG 2 – WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
▶ JUSTIN GAETHJE VS MICHAEL CHANDLER – LIGHTWEIGHT BOUT
▶ SHANE BURGOS VS BILLY QURANTILLO – FEATHERWEIGHT BOUT
▶ FRANKIE EDGAR VS MARLON VERA – BANTAMWEIGHT BOUT
[Featured Image Credit: UFC Arabic]
Shashank Iyer