White: Namajunas Doesn’t Want Title Fight

After Rose Namajunas defeated Jessica Andrade at UFC 251 this past summer, Ultimate Fighting championship (UFC) President Dana White, was on board saying that the logical fight to make was “Thug Rose” taking on women’s Strawweight champion, Weili Zhang.

Now, White is singing a different tune. According to the outspoken UFC head honcho it’s not that he doesn’t want to book the title fight, it’s that a little birdie told him that Namajunas isn’t exactly in a hurry to fight for the title again.

“What I’m hearing is Rose does not want a title shot. Rose does not want to fight for a title,” White said when speaking to BT Sport (via MMA Fighting).

According to White, he is under the impression that Namajunas didn’t enjoy the pressure that comes with being a UFC title holder.

“I don’t think she did [like the pressure of being a champion]. She doesn’t want to fight for the title. So we’ll see how that all plays out.”

Of course, White didn’t divulge where he got that information, but it didn’t come straight from the horses mouth. That’s because Pat Barry, Rose’s husband, says they’ve never told UFC officials such things.

“That is absolutely not true – we absolutely want the title fight,” Barry said. “Who would turn down a title fight? We just don’t want to air this out publicly. If there was some confusion, they can call us to clear it up.”

It’s amazing how a simple phone call can clear things up right away.

Still, if UFC and Team Namajunas can’t come to an agreement to make the championship fight happen, White and Co. already have a contingent plan in place, as they will turn to former division champion, Carla Esparza.