When Rose Namajunas’s return for UFC 237 was announced, there were some eyebrows raised regarding the destination of her title defense against Jessica Andrade, as the champion will be going into hostile territory in the challenger’s home country of Brazil. Rose Namajunas does not mind fighting on foreign turf, though. In fact, in a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, she seems to relish the thought:
“That’s just how I perform best, you know?” Namajunas said. “I think it’s just a great opportunity.”
Currently pegged as an underdog in the fight, conventional wisdom would have it that Rose Namajunas did not do much to improve her odds of being victorious in her second title defense by agreeing to face not ony Andrade, but a rabid Brazilian audience chanting dreadful utterances into her ear. Still, this location was an option that Namajunas herself selected:
“I wanted to fight in Brazil [rather than Las Vegas in March]. They had told me March 2 at first so I was getting ready for that anyways. But of course, more time is always better but sometimes you can have too much time and it can be like you’re overtrained and stuff. I took this break for a reason, obviously to heal up and stuff. I’m just looking to get back in there no matter what.”
UFC 237 takes place May 11th from Curitiba, Brazil. The event’s headliner is yet to be announced.
What do you make of Rose Namajunas opting to fight in Brazil for UFC 237 instead of Las Vegas at UFC 235?
