Rose Namajunas wasn’t able to avenge her previous loss to Jessica Andrade in emphatic fashion at UFC 251. But the former strawweight champ’s hand speed and footwork ultimatley delivered her the win.
Andrade came with a lot of horizontal and head movement in opening round. But, as the round wore on, Namajunas began to find the target with her jab and right cross. Andrade planted a big right later in the round, but Namajunas continued to score and bloodied the former champ’s nose.
Andrade changed levels in the final minute in search of a takedown, but ‘Thug’ countered with a nice knee.
Andrade continued to move her head constantly in round two, and move forward, but Rose countered with jabs and rights. Mid round, however, Andrade started to plant some heavy hooks and ‘Thug’ missed with a flying knee. Late in the round, Namajunas scored with another right and Andrade tried to clinch up. Andrade winged more heavy hooks before the round ended.
The third frame saw more of the same: Andrade firing big books and Rose countering with straight punches. Around 90 seconds in, however, Andrade bloodied the nose of Namajunas with a big right.
A couple of minutes in, Andrade threw Rose to the ground and took the top position. ‘Thug’, however, kicked her off and got back to her feet. Namajunas tagged Andrade with a 1-2 and the latter fired back. In the final minute, the bloodied Namajunas took Andrade down, but the Brazilian quickly got back up. ‘Thug’ planted a couple more shots before the final horn went.
Close fight.
Namajunas recieved the nod from two judges to get the split decision win.
Here are the results so far for UFC 251, which is taking place on Yas Island.
Rose Namajunas def. Jessica Andrade via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Amanda Ribas def. Paige VanZant via submission (armbar) R1, 2:21
Jiri Prochazka def. Volkan Oezdemir via KO (punch) R2, 0:49
Muslim Salikhov def. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Makwan Amirkhani def. Danny Henry via technical submission (anaconda choke) R1, 3:15
Leonardo Santos def. Roman Bogatov via unanimous decision (29-26. 29-26, 29-26)
Marcin Tybura def. Maxim Grishin via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Raulian Paiva def. Zhalgas Zhumagulov via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Karol Rosa def. Vanessa Melo via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Davey Grant def. Martin Day via KO (punch) R3, 2:38
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