UFC 251: ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas edges Jessica Andrade war on Fight Island to set up Zhang Weili title shot

Bloodied and bruised Namajunas earns split decision in Abu Dhabi after three furious and violent rounds

‘I was hoping to get back in there by the end of the year but we’ll so how my nose is doing and take it from there,’ says American

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Rose Namajunas celebrates after her split-decision victory over Jessica Andrade in their strawweight fight during UFC 251. Photos: USA TODAY Sports

Published: 11:57am, 12 Jul 2020Updated: 6:25pm, 12 Jul 2020

“Thug” Rose Namajunas dug deep into her undoubted wells of courage to take a split decision over Jessica “Bate Estaca” Andrade on Sunday that was as furious as it was fascinating.

The American took her record to 10-4 with the split decision – it went 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 on the judges scores – that surely means a crack at the UFC’s reigning strawweight champion, in China’s Zhang “Magnum” Weili (21-1).

There was a huge welt under the 28-year-old’s left eye post-fight as she spoke to the UFC broadcast team but it didn’t hide the obvious joy she was feeling, after gaining revenge over the Brazilian Andrade (20-8), who had stripped her of the title back in may last year.

“It was fun and I was in the right state of mind – that’s everything,” said Namajunas. “She turned on the desperation button and really unloaded and caught me a couple of times obviously but I just stayed strong.”

That last bout with Andrade had ended with the Brazilian dumping Namajunas on her head for the knockout and the American had later said she had lost interest in the sport leading up to the loss, and immediately after it. But “Thug” was back to her brilliant best Sunday, all long legs and arms and concise cage control.

“Technically, physically I am just loving what I do again,” said Namajunas, who said she had planned to fight her way to a title shot by the end of the year. “I was hoping to get back in there by the end of the year but we’ll so how my nose is doing and take it from there.”