Report | Rose Namajunas strawweight title defense in the works for UFC 221

According to a report from Bartek Stachura of Lowking.PL, Rose Namajunas will defend her new strawweight title at UFC 221 in Perth, Western Australia on February 11. Her opponent will be Tecia Torres, who she has fought twice before.

Rose Namajunas vs. Tecia Torres III in the works for #UFC221 in Perth.

— Bartek Stachura (@Lowkingpl) December 21, 2017

Statchura’s report was subsequently followed up by WMMARankings.com.

If these reports are accurate, this bout will be the second title fight on the UFC 221 bill, as UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker will attempt to defend his title against former champion Luke Rockhold in the main event.

As stated above, Namajunas and Torres have fought twice before. In their first fight, which occurred in the Invicta cage, Torres won by unanimous decision. In their second, which went down in the UFC’s Octagon, Namajunas got a bit of vengeance, winning a unanimous decision of her own. Both women handed the other their first career loss.

More recently, Rose Namajunas choked out former Invicta atomweight champion Michelle Waterson to earn a crack at the UFC strawweight title. She then made good on this opportunity, authoring a shocking upset by knocking out dominant champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the first round. Namajunas is 7-3 overall.

Tecia Torres, meanwhile, is currently on a three-fight streak, having recently bested Bec Rawlings, Juliana Lima, and most recently Michelle Waterson. She boasts an impressive 10-1 record, with her lone loss having been dealt by Namajunas.

UFC 221 will also include a heavyweight bout between Mark Hunt and Curtis Blaydes, a flyweight bout between Ben Nguyen and Jussier “Formiga” da Silva, a light heavyweight bout between Tyson Pedro and Saparbek Safarov, and a lightweight bout between Damien Brown and Dong Hyun Kim. The card is also expected to include a featherweight bout between red-hot prospects Alexander Volkanovski and Jeremy Kennedy.

Sources tell me a bout between Australia’s Alex Volkanovski and Canada’s Jeremy Kennedy is close to being finalized for #UFC221 in Perth, Australia. Fight was briefly scheduled to occur back at UFC Fight Night 121.

— Tom Taylor (@TomTayMMA) December 17, 2017

Do you think Rose Namajunas will successfully defend her title against Tecia Torres?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 21/12/2017.