VIDEO | Rose Namajunas on Rematch with Joanna: “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

“That’s the tough part (doing a rematch). You can’t paint the Mona Lisa twice. It has to be something different, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, either. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing but keep getting better obviously all the time. (I knew I was going to knock her out) because everyone is so desperate for the takedown. Everyone tries to take her down from what I see. I stand across from Valentina Shevchenko, and we go back-and-forth, and it’s not a thing to me. I’ve got Pat ‘HD’ Barry in my corner. I’ve got Trevor Wittman. I’ve done taekwondo striking my entire life. It’s not something I’ve never seen before.

That Dutch style of kickboxing, that’s great, that’s hard. It’s very intimidating to stand across from, but you know it’s very rhythmic on the beat. It’s just something: It looks scary, but it’s nothing to be scared of. I have to remember that anything can happen at any moment, and anybody can be dangerous. Then at the end of the day, whatever’s meant to be is meant to be… I definitely feel like I’m the better martial artist and the better fighter, too. I have a lot going for me. I just have to remember these things.”

Rose Namajunas might as well have been the only one who wasn’t completely stunned by her victory over Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Even those that may have thought she would win definitely did not expect her to win in the fashion that she did. But Namajunas just has that special kind of confidence in her abilities.

Going into their rematch at UFC 223, the new champion, Namajunas will be the underdog once again. Namajunas’ win over Jedrzejczyk was actually her first by way of knockout or technical knockout. The rest of her victories have majorly come by submission.

Who do you have in the big Strawweight rematch on April 7th?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/23/2018.