Free Fight: Rose Namajunas vs. Paige VanZant
The fight that made Rose Namajunas a UFC STAR.
Rose Namajunas vs. Paige VanZant at UFC Fight Night 80 on December 10, 2015 at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada was a pivotal fight for both.
Paige VanZant was one of a handful of fighters in the entire sport with a direct Reebok sponsorship. The fighter/model was mediagenic, 21, and on a four-fight win streak.
By contrast, ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas grew up poor, and expressed her thoughts about modeling with action.
Namajunas beat the blood out of VanZant, before finally tapping her with a rear naked choke in the fifth. PVZ showed the real heart of a fighter in losing. For better and for worse, that was what much of the media focused on.
However, a star was born that night, and it wasn’t the model.
“It was all about how tough Paige was,” said Namajunas to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that Monday. “But she was really tough in that fight. I think people are kind of overlooking my mental toughness. I like what Brian Stann commenting during the fight – when I was going for an armbar but I stayed on top all those times – ‘rarely do fighters keep going for submissions and risking top position and dominate like that at the same time’.
“There’s certain things that I think…maybe it was just that there were just a lot of good qualities to that fight that certain things just get overlooked. But I think over time people will see it.”
“It’s the person with the belt and it’s everybody else. It’s anybody’s ballgame at that point. Everybody’s one fight away from getting a title shot if they step in on short notice for somebody. So for me it’s the champ and everybody else. And, for me I guess it does make the next fight more important.”
The next fight was a win over Tecia Torres. Saturday Namajunas fights Poland’s undefeated Karolina Kowalkiewicz. With a win, she has a ferocious case for a title shot.
