UFC 237 Post-Mortem: Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Jessica Andrade became the first Brazilian to win an Ultimate Fighting Championship title in her home country, as she knocked out Rose Namajunas with a second-round slam to capture the undisputed women’s strawweight crown in the UFC 237 main event on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro. The new champion was not afforded much time to savor the moment.
Fans and members of the media almost immediately began took look forward to potential challengers. Four possibilities emerged: an instant rematch with Namajunas, a rematch with former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, a meeting with former Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder Michelle Waterson or a showdown with the winner of the forthcoming battle between Tatiana Suarez and Nina Ansaroff.
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“For me, it is very good fighting Rose tonight,” Andrade said at the post-fight press conference. “I was really able to see in detail and feel her hands to see what I’m going to do in the next fight. The UFC is definitely going to want to give her a rematch, and I accept it because to prove that you won, you got to do the same thing twice. I am going to be very well-prepared. I am going to focus on my movement.
“She has quicker hands, but the game plan was to tire her in the
first round,” she added. “[From] the second round on, I noticed her
arms were tired. I was able to duck more and she took all the
kicks, so that is something I’m going to train a lot. [During] the
takedowns, she felt like a feather in there, so I think I will have
to improve my ground work and my movement.”
Since downshifting to strawweight from 135 pounds, Andrade has won seven of her eight fights. The lone setback? A decision defeat to Jedrzejczyk in a failed bid to win the 115-pound title two years ago. The Polish star congratulated Andrade on dethroning Namajunas in a social media message, attaching a photo of her kicking the Brazilian in the head at UFC 211 -- a clear effort to ruffle feathers and boost her chances of securing a rematch.
“I think the matter of movement is something I need to improve,” Andrade said. “The Jessica that fought [Jedrzejczyk] two years ago isn’t the Jessica of today. I’m much stronger with my takedowns and my standup. I’m going to invest a lot in a muay Thai camp to improve the movement to get out of the way and cut the Octagon correctly. I don’t think there is much of a chance she gets this belt back.”
Andrade does not view Jedrzejczyk as the most significant threat to her reign. That distinction goes to the undefeated Suarez.
“I think the most dangerous is Tatiana,” Andrade said. “She has a very good ground game. She is insistent. Even though I’ve got good jiu-jitsu, she’s and incredible grappler.”
ETC.
After blowing up former middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s right knee with an inside leg kick in the co-main event, Jared Cannonier has seven first-round finishes to his credit … According to FightMetric figures, Alexander Volkanovski connected with 95 significant strikes in a three-round unanimous decision over Jose Aldo. No other fighter outside of Max Holloway has landed as many against the Brazilian … Laureano Staropoli’s decision victory over Thiago Alves gave him a nine-fight winning streak. However, his eight opponents during that tear have a combined record of 36-27 … Irene Aldana posted the first armbar submission win of her career against Bethe Correia. Her two previous submissions had come via rear-naked choke against Peggy Morgan and Colleen Schneider … B.J. Penn now owns the all-time record for consecutive losses in the UFC, having suffered his seventh straight setback in a lopsided decision defeat to Clay Guida … UFC 237 “Namajunas vs. Andrade” drew a reported crowd of 15,193 to Jeunesse Arena -- the fourth-largest attendance figure the promotion has posted in 2019 behind UFC Fight Night 147 (16,602), UFC Fight Night 145 (16,583) and UFC 234 (15,238).
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