Rose Namajunas withdraws from UFC 249 fight card
Former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas has withdrawn from UFC 249 for undisclosed reasons. The 27-year old was scheduled to face fellow former champion Jessica Andrade in the fight card’s co-main event on April 18.
The news was first reported by Combate and later confirmed by ESPN. The full UFC 249 fight card was released earlier this week but the location has yet to be revealed. It’s expected to take place on a Native American reservation in California, but the fight promotion hasn’t announced the venue.
Namajunas (8-4) last fought at UFC 237 in May 2019 losing the belt to Andrade (20-7) by knockout. Andrade was defeated in her first title defense by current titleholder Weili Zhang last August. Andrade is the top ranked contender in the strawweight division while Namajuas is ranked No. 2. The rematch would have set the winner up to face Zhang in their next outing.
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UFC 249 is headlined by a interim lightweight title fight between Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje. Ferguson was originally slated to face champion Khabib Nurmagomedov but Nurmagomedov remains in Russia due to travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.