Rose Namajunas reveals she will be taking Christ consciousness, Lithuanian blood and the American dream into her fight against Zhang Weili

Rose Namajunas reveals she will be taking Christ consciousness, Lithuanian blood and the American dream into her fight against Zhang Weili

Rose Namajunas will be taking on Zhang Weili for the women’s strawweight championship in the co-main event of UFC 261, next week. The match marks the return of Weili after ‘that war’ against Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 248.

Speaking in an interview with Lithuanian Outlet LRT, Namajunas revealed that her Lithuanian roots (from her grandparents) and the American dream will be added motivation for her in the fight against Zhang Weili, all while maintaining that she had nothing personal against the women’s strawweight champion.

‘I don’t hate Weili or anything like that‘ – Rose Namajunas

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Namajunas was quoted as saying, “The animosity and things like that, those can be very motivating factors in short moments, but in all actuality going into the fight there was, I was, maybe there was certain, um rivalries and things like that, but I always kept myself in control. I never really hated the person.“

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About Zhang Weili, Namajunas said, “I don’t hate Weili or anything like that, there’s nothing… um, you know, but I do feel as though… I have… I have a lot to fight for in this fight. And what she represents and um, you know, I was just, I was just trying to remind myself of, you know, all the—my background and everywhere that I come from and my family and everything like that.”

She continued, “It’s nothing personal against her, but that’s a huge motivating factor of why I fight and I fight for freedom and I’ve got the Christ consciousness, I’ve got Lithuanian blood and I’ve got the American dream and all of those things I’m taking with me into this fight.”

Namajunas is coming off a split decision victory against Jessica Andrade in their rematch at UFC 251. She had previously lost to Andrade at UFC 237, due to a brutal slam. The former women’s strawweight champion will be wary of the threat ‘the never been finished’ Zhang Weili possesses.

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