Rose Namajunas reacts to Zhang Weili’s changes ahead of UFC 268: ‘Whatever she did last time didn’t work’

Rose Namajunas and Zhang Weili are set to lock horns once again.

As their UFC 268 rematch draws near on Nov. 6, the former champion turned challenger in Zhang has made some changes by altering her appearance with a new hairstyle as well as moving her training camp stateside.

“I think it’s sort of expected for her to change something up because, obviously, whatever she did last time didn’t work so well for her,” Namajunas told The Schmo. “Whatever she’s gotta do, I’m sure she’s gonna be very motivated and ready to go.

“I don’t really make too much of it. I just know that she’s got to be sort of thinking a lot. She could be overthinking, she could be just more motivated than ever. So I just have to be ready for the best version of Weili no matter what.”

Rose Namajunas managed to become only the second fighter to defeat Zhang Weili dating back to her debut against Meng Bo in 2013 – 21 wins separating the Ls.

To help recapture the gold in her rebound attempt, the first Chinese UFC titleholder sought out the aid of Henry Cejudo and the team at Fight Ready in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“I don’t really know anything about their relationship, personally,” Namajunas said. “I can only imagine there’s some type of language barrier. But other than that, I feel like they seem to have a good chemistry on the surface so I don’t make any assumptions. I would think that she’s probably wrestling a lot more and she’s got a great clinch so she’s probably going to try to close the distance or something like that because she obviously wasn’t winning on the outside. So she’s gotta try to make it close.”