Rose Namajunas ended Zhang Weili’s unbeaten reign as strawweight champion tonight at UFC 261 with a picture-perfect head kick that will take pride of place on her highlight reel from this moment onwards.
Round One:
Leg kick for Weili to start. Another inside leg kick for her. Namajunas light on her feet, but Weili lands a jab. Another leg kick for her.
Jab for Namajunas and inside leg kick for Weili. Again they trade the same strikes – jab for Namajunas, Weili with an inside leg kick.
Huge head kick for Namajunas and Weili collapses! Weili somehow trying to rise back up, but Namajunas starts blasting her with hammerfists and the ref quickly steps in to end the fight at just 1.18mins of the first round.
Weili is furious afterwards at the decision to end the fight and staggers to her feet protesting, but she’s clearly still rocked and doesn’t seem to realize what happened.
Spectacular head kick from Namajunas, what a way to regain the title and she bursts into tears as the belt is wrapped around her waist by Dana White.
For some reason Joe Rogan interviews Weili afterwards despite having vowed not to do so when a fighter has been knocked out, and at one stage she appears to forget what she was going to say – not a good look for the UFC.
still, What a crazy night of fights this has been and the main event is still to come!
