Andrade stuns Namajunas

JESSICA Andrade stunned Rose Namajunas with a second-round knockout to win the UFC 115-pound strawweight championship in her home country in the main event of UFC 237 on Saturday night, May 11.

Andrade topped Amanda Nunes for the most wins among women in UFC history with 11.

Andrade dropped to her knees in tears and raised her arms toward the sky as the Brazilian crowd went wild for the new champ. Andrade slammed Namajunas on her head—a very scary sight as the awkward angle of the landing could have resulted in a broken neck—and the fight was over at 2:58 of the second round.

“I never pile-drived in the UFC,” Andrade said through an interpreter.

It ended Namajunas’ reign that started when she beat Joanna Jedrzejczyk to win the belt in November 2017 and then made a successful defense in a rematch in April 2018.

“It’s just a huge pressure off my shoulders,” the 27-year-old Namajunas said.

Namajunas brushed off talk of a rematch and said there was a chance the loss was her last fight.

“Let’s see if I’m still interested in this,” she said. “I just want to do something else with my life right now. I’m not going to make no decisions right now. It’s just hard to keep having fun with this.”

Namajunas was in control, busting open a cut above Andrade’s left eye and starting the second round with some hard jabs that had Andrade reeling. But Andrade stayed close and finally scooped Namajunas and drove her head into the canvas. /