Rose Namajunas became the Strawweight World Champion for the second time after her first-round knockout of Zhang Weili at UFC 261 in Jacksonville.
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Rose won her first world title back in 2017 when she took on former champion Joanna Jendrzejczyk where she shocked the world by knocking out the Polish fighter in the first round of the fight. She gave fans a sense of deja vu at UFC 261 where she took on Zhang Weili and knocked her out in the first round with a brilliant head kick. This victory crowned her the champion of the strawweight division for the second time in her career. With this win, Rose also became the first female UFC fighter in the history of the sport to lose a belt and regain it in the same division.
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The American mixed martial artist quickly established her range and kept herself away from Zhang’s mighty punches. A few punches from both ends got the action going, but after 1:18 minutes of the first round, Rose unleashed a quick and perfect head kick that sent Zhang into the canvas. As soon as she hit the floor, Rose landed a few more punches before referee Keith Peterson stopped the fight. Zhang was unhappy after the match was stopped as she felt that the contest was brought to an end too quickly and she was still in her senses to fight. The replays however showed us a completely different story where she was eating punches from Namajunas without defending while she was lying on the ground. This victory even earned Rose the performance of the Night award, on a night where there were plenty of top names on display.
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After the match, Namajunas got quite emotional when she was presented with the UFC belt for the second time in her career, as the announcer said, “You shook up the world again”, to which the two-time world champion replied, “I did it again. But God did it man. I really just had to have faith in him and that’s what got me through.”
[Image Credit: ESPN MMA]
Shashank Iyer