“She didn’t want to fight”- Carla Esparza blames Rose Namajunas for playing it ‘too safe’ in their title rematch at UFC 274
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Rose Namajunas- Carla Esparza
Rose Namajunas went against Carla Esparza at UFC 274 for the Strawweight title. the fight was rather underwhelming and is now considered one of the most boring fights in UFC history.
Carla once again defeated Rose Namajunas and won the Strawweight title for herself. However, the fight was uneventful as the post-fight statistics showed that only 67 significant strikes and three takedowns landed. Namajunas threw 137 strikes landing just 38. Esparza threw 133 strikes, with only 30 landing.
The fight was decided by Judges, who scored the fight 48-47 and 49-46 in favor of Esparza and 47-48 in favor of Rose. The deciding factor in the fight turned out to be Esparza’s takedowns, of which she only landed a few and never held Namajunas on the canvas for any significant time. Still, the takedowns were a show of aggression that was more than Namajunas had offered at any point in the fight.
Carla, in an interview with ESPN, revealed that she was constantly trying to engage because she felt Rose didn’t want to fight at all. Carla was asked about the hesitation among the fighters during the match and why were they not engaging.
To this Carla said: “You know I don’t really think I had a total like hesitation I felt that I was putting the pressure going forward you know but it’s really hard to fight and this is not disrespect but it’s hard to fight someone who doesn’t want to fight you know and I felt like I was chasing and you know unfortunately as a wrestler this has happened to me a few times in my career.”
Watch the interview:
Related: This is how the judges scored Rose Namajunas vs Carla Esparza uneventful fight at UFC 274
“I won that fight”- Rose Namajunas believes she won the fight against Carla Esparza
After both fighters went against each other on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 274, Carla Esparza became the new female Strawweight champion.
After the fight, both fighters had their share of say about the match. Carla, in the octagon interview, said: “You never know what’s going to happen with the judges, but I felt like I was the aggressor in the fight and I was going after it and going after it.”
According To Rose, she thinks she had done enough and she should have won the fight. Talking in the post-fight interview, Namajunas said: “I won that fight, I felt like I did the damage, I controlled the fight, and I’m proud of myself because I stuck to the strategy.”
She added, “Because I know that in all of Carla’s fights she baits people in and tries to get people to attack her, so it’s like, ‘No.’ I’ve been in slugfests before, I’ve gotten my nose broke, I’ve stood there and shed blood in the octagon, so I stuck to the strategy and she didn’t really have any offense. She was whiffing at air the whole time. So I thought I won.”
Watch the interview:
This fight was certainly one of the strangest fights we have had recently in the UFC. Both fighters did not engage with each other and in the end, it was very confusing to decide on a winner. However, according to the Judges, Carla did enough to earn the title and hence she was crowned the new Champion.
It’s unlikely the UFC gives Namajunas a rematch in the near future, given the fight drew comparisons to some of the worst in UFC history. While Namajunas seemed shocked, Esparza was balancing joy with disappointment in the performance.
Also Read: “Tony was more active after unconsciousness”- Fans react to the ridiculous snooze-fest between Carla Esparza and Rose Namajunas
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Sparsh Sharma
(196 Articles Published)