Rose Namajunas might in all probability lean on her title worth and two-time champion standing to chop the road, however she’s not eager on it. Forward of her struggle in opposition to Erin Blanchfield at UFC Struggle Evening in Edmonton, Namajunas admits it would not really feel proper to get a UFC girls’s flyweight title shot over Manon Fiorot.
The winner of Blanchfield vs. Namajunas on Saturday doubtless sits behind solely former UFC girls’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso and Fiorot within the promotion’s official girls’s 125-pound rankings. Fiorot, who beat Namajunas and Blanchfield consecutively, deserves the subsequent crack at Valentina Shevchenko. However timing, rankings and star energy all issue into UFC’s matchmaking. It is not inconceivable to suppose UFC would possibly pivot to Shevchenko vs. Namajunas.
“I am an individual of integrity so I really feel like she deserves to be subsequent in line,” Namajunas instructed CBS Sports activities. “She’s been type of ready; though, I do not know the place her head is. If she’s saying no to provides then that is not a factor to do both. If the UFC needs her to struggle once more, then she ought to try this, however in the end the UFC is type of the decide of that and it is as much as me to have a very good efficiency to make that case.”
Greater than ever, UFC’s matchmaking course of depends on who can reply the decision to fill the promotion’s busy occasion calendar. Khalil Rountree Jr. and Steve Erceg, ranked No. 8 and No. 10 of their respective divisions, got questionable title photographs. Kai Asakura will struggle UFC flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja in his promotional debut at UFC 310. Nonetheless, Namajunas says it would not really feel proper to skip the road even when UFC deems her a worthy title challenger.
“Even with a superb efficiency, effectively we might cross that bridge when get to it, however I would nonetheless really feel unhealthy, for some purpose, if I jumped her,” Namajunas stated.
Try the total interview with Rose Namajunas under.
Saturday’s Struggle Evening is headlined by former UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno vs. Amir Albazi. Blanchfield vs. Namajunas is anticipated to be a five-round co-main occasion.
