Namajunas finally proves that the first fight was not a FLUKE by beating Zhang Weili in a 5 five back and forth. Although it was a totally different outcome compared to their first encounter, Weili was more composed and mixed her grappling more which is a smart strategy.
Namajunas may have been caught off guard with Weili choosing to wrestle. In the standup, it seems that Namajunas was the better striker. Weili definitely possesses the power to knock Namajunas out but the question is will she be able to land it? Namajunas fights more technically where she touches her opponent and gets out of the way, plus she has the reach advantage to fight on the outside.
In the first round, Weili may have won the round due to her wrestling and control, the striking was a bit even but the ground game made Weili win the round. In the second round, the fight started on the feet and Weili managed to land a great strike and eventually led to a takedown but Namajunas also scored a takedown in the late second round. It was close and could have gone either way.
As the rounds go on, it looked like Namajunas was just the better fighter on the feet but Weili’s grappling was the difference-maker as well. At the last minute of the third round, Weili was able to take down Namajunas and almost secured a choke but lacked the time to work.
In the fourth round, Weili was able to take Namajunas down again and got Namajunas’s back but this time she had more time. Namajunas showed her high-level grappling as well by reversing the rear-naked choke attempt, which ended up here at the top for the latter half of the fight.
In the final round, Namajunas was the one that initiated the takedown that secured her the win. Although the second round was close, Namajunas won the last two rounds pretty clearly. It was a great grappling exchange between the two fighters and the fight could have gone either way.
Two judges gave it to Rose and the other one to Weili, there was great sportsmanship shown and Weili accepted the loss like a champion.
