Rose Namajunas confident her next fight will be against Jessica Andrade

Current UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas should be back soon.

Namajunas hasn’t fought since UFC 223 when she defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the second time in a row. That fight week was tough for her, as Conor McGregor threw a dolly at the bus she was on and shook her up. Since the fight, Namajunas has been rehabbing an injury and trying to get over the bus attack.

“Yeah, right now I am kind of getting back into strength and conditioning, conditioning my body. Not really taking impact to the head or anything like that,” said Namajunas backstage at UFC Fight Night Denver. “Working on being a better athlete. Just trying to, I guess, manage everything else in my life. After the holidays I think we can start talking about a fight.”

Since she last fought, the division has changed quite a bit. Jedrzejczyk has moved up to flyweight to fight for the belt, while Brazil’s Jessica Andrade is now the clear-cut number one contender.

“I don’t see how anybody else other than Andrade would make sense,” said Namajunas. “I know she wants to stay active. If she wants to have another fight until I’m ready then that is cool, if not I’d love to have a chance at her.”

The timeframe for this fight will depend on Namajunas’ health. It appears she won’t fight in 2018, but early 2019 is a realistic goal for the defending champion.

“I’ve mentioned it before, I like fighting in spring and fall, that is a good time for me. That is kind of what I have expressed already. We’ll see how things happen,” she added.

Whenever her comeback occurs, Rose Namajunas believes things are getting pretty interesting in the UFC strawweight division.

“Andrade shook things up. Joanna got back in the winning streak of things so she’s going up, so that is kind of interesting as well,” she said. “Other than that, I guess Tatiana (Suarez) she is starting to make some noise and stuff like that. At the moment all I am focused on is being a better martial artist and becoming a better athlete and one day at a time.”

Who do you think would win a fight between Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/11/2018.