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the UFC women’s strawweight champion has a few significant things she needs to take care of. First and foremost is a compression fracture in her neck that she’s been dealing with since her camp for the second Joanna Jedrzejczyk fight.
“It’s the perfect time now to rehab that and just get better as a martial artist,” Namajunas told MMA Fighting backstage at UFC 227 earlier this month. “And to really sit back and see who’s the real contender in the division. Right now, I think things are a little shaken up a bit. There’s not really somebody clearly to challenge at the moment.”
Namajunas said she has her eye on the UFC 228 fight between Jessica Andradeand Karolina Kowalkiewicz. The winner there, she said, could position herself as the No. 1 contender.
Another highly ranked strawweight — Jedrzejczyk — has been doing plenty of talking. The former champion defeated Tecia Torres at UFC on FOX 30 last month by unanimous decision. It was her first victory after back-to-back losses to Namajunas. Jedrzejczyk believes she is the true top contender in the 115-pound division and she thinks she should perhaps get an interim title shot if Namajunas is not back soon.
Namajunas, 26, had said previously that she would not grant Jedrzejczyk another title shot unless Jedrzejczyk admits Namajunas is the best strawweight in the world. Jedrzejczyk said after UFC on FOX 30 that she’d “never” do that. Namajunas, for her part, has been silent and not gone back at Jedrzejczyk on social media.
“It don’t really bother me,” Namajunas said. “I know at this point it just kind of sounds silly. The more she talks, the more she just makes herself sound stupid. For me, I like to just try and be positive about everything as much as possible. Of course, you can get dragged into silly shit. I just remind myself that she was a great champion. I looked up to her at one point in my life for a reason and I just try and remember what she did for the sport and just kind of leave it at that. She was a great champion, but now it’s my time. And eventually she’s gotta come to terms with that and be OK with it.”
Namajunas believes Jedrzejczyk might just be putting on a front. She might say she thinks she won the decision at UFC 223 back in April, but Namajunas feels like deep down she knows the truth — that Namajunas is the top 115-pounder and not Jedrzejczyk.
I don’t know what she’s thinking, really,” Namajunas said. “But I know what she’s saying and she’s saying I’m scared of this or that. I think all that’s really showing is she don’t want to fight the best. She don’t want to fight me, when she knows I’m the best. She wants me to try and lose to somebody else or something, so she can challenge them or something. But she don’t really want to beat the best — and that’s me.
“Regardless of whatever she wants, whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen and I’m gonna still keep living my life and just remember that she was a great champion. She was a great champion.”
https://www.mmafighting.com/platfor...&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true
“It’s the perfect time now to rehab that and just get better as a martial artist,” Namajunas told MMA Fighting backstage at UFC 227 earlier this month. “And to really sit back and see who’s the real contender in the division. Right now, I think things are a little shaken up a bit. There’s not really somebody clearly to challenge at the moment.”
Namajunas said she has her eye on the UFC 228 fight between Jessica Andradeand Karolina Kowalkiewicz. The winner there, she said, could position herself as the No. 1 contender.
Another highly ranked strawweight — Jedrzejczyk — has been doing plenty of talking. The former champion defeated Tecia Torres at UFC on FOX 30 last month by unanimous decision. It was her first victory after back-to-back losses to Namajunas. Jedrzejczyk believes she is the true top contender in the 115-pound division and she thinks she should perhaps get an interim title shot if Namajunas is not back soon.
Namajunas, 26, had said previously that she would not grant Jedrzejczyk another title shot unless Jedrzejczyk admits Namajunas is the best strawweight in the world. Jedrzejczyk said after UFC on FOX 30 that she’d “never” do that. Namajunas, for her part, has been silent and not gone back at Jedrzejczyk on social media.
“It don’t really bother me,” Namajunas said. “I know at this point it just kind of sounds silly. The more she talks, the more she just makes herself sound stupid. For me, I like to just try and be positive about everything as much as possible. Of course, you can get dragged into silly shit. I just remind myself that she was a great champion. I looked up to her at one point in my life for a reason and I just try and remember what she did for the sport and just kind of leave it at that. She was a great champion, but now it’s my time. And eventually she’s gotta come to terms with that and be OK with it.”
Namajunas believes Jedrzejczyk might just be putting on a front. She might say she thinks she won the decision at UFC 223 back in April, but Namajunas feels like deep down she knows the truth — that Namajunas is the top 115-pounder and not Jedrzejczyk.
I don’t know what she’s thinking, really,” Namajunas said. “But I know what she’s saying and she’s saying I’m scared of this or that. I think all that’s really showing is she don’t want to fight the best. She don’t want to fight me, when she knows I’m the best. She wants me to try and lose to somebody else or something, so she can challenge them or something. But she don’t really want to beat the best — and that’s me.
“Regardless of whatever she wants, whatever is gonna happen is gonna happen and I’m gonna still keep living my life and just remember that she was a great champion. She was a great champion.”
https://www.mmafighting.com/platfor...&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true
