Rose Namajunas has faced a lot of different styles during her fighting career but Jessica Andrade definitely presents some interesting problems.
The 27-year old Brazilian has been a buzzsaw in virtually every fight she’s had since moving down to 115 pounds after starting her UFC career competing as a bantamweight.
During her recent three fight win streak, Andrade has run roughshod over two former title contenders in Claudia Gadelha and Karolina Kowalkiewicz while also defeating Tecia Torres, who is one of only three people to hold a win over Namajunas in her career.
Andrade never makes it a secret what she intends to do and that means it’s up to Namajunas to stop her.
“Of course she described herself as a tractor, she’s just going to keep coming forward,” Namajunas said ahead of UFC 237. “That’s something to definitely address and something we’ve definitely game planned around in our training camp but at the end of the day the game plan is always the same thing.
“Going into every fight the game plan is always the same thing no matter who I’m fighting — it’s punch them in the face, take their back and choke them out. It just depends on how the fight plays out and I just find a way to win. We’ll know when I get in there what will happen.”
As much as she may be able to break down the technical nuances of this fight, Namajunas believes the key to her victory really lies in a few key elements that will separate her from Andrade when they meet.
She’s not trying to look at simplicities such as needing to keep the fight standing to have a chance to win or the constant need to drag Andrade to the floor to look for submissions.
Instead, Namajunas is going to go with the flow of the fight and if she keeps her head on straight until it’s over, she will leave Brazil with her world title in tact.
“It doesn’t have to be any one particular thing. I have total control over myself and that’s the main thing,” Namajunas said. “As long as I’m in control of myself, there’s really no one that can stand a chance.
“But like I said, I just need to make sure I’m confident, conditioned, composed and content and I’ll be the champ.”
