A bout between UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang and former titleholder Rose Namajunas has long been in the planning, but UFC president Dana White recently said Namajunas doesn’t want to fight for a UFC title.
Namajunas would beg to differ.
“What I’m hearing is Rose does not want a title shot. Rose does not want to fight for a title,” White said in a recent interview with BT Sport.
“I don’t think she (liked the pressure of being a champion). She doesn’t want to fight for the title. So we’ll see how that all plays out.”
Namajunas’s fiancé and coach Pat Barry quickly shot down that idea. Namajunas has also chimed in, particularly taking aim at White’s comment that she doesn’t like the pressure of being a UFC champion.
“Maybe there’s a misconception out there that I’m weak-minded or whatever or, ‘I can’t handle the pressures of being champion,’ or whatever the f— people say,” Namajunas said in a video on her YouTube channel.
“That’s not true. That’s what I live for. I am the pressure cooker.”
She also seemed to be unaware of why White would say that she doesn’t want to fight. Namajunas relayed that she has been training with various people and was about to start working with longtime coach Trevor Wittman again in preparation for her next fight.
“I don’t know if you follow stuff that’s out there in the MMA news, but apparently there’s some confusion going on about my next fight and whatever,” she said.
“I’m not worried about any of that. I’m just ready to fight. So I don’t know what’s going on, but I know that you guys are ready for me to fight, too.”
TRENDING > Dana White says Rose Namajunas doesn’t want to fight for UFC belt
Rose Namajunas says she is ready to fight
(Video courtesy of Rose Namajunas)
Rose Namajunas shoots down idea she doesn’t want to fight for UFC belt