It was a tidy, workmanlike, professional performance Saturday for Rose Namajunas. She defeated Tracy Cortez by unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Denver at Ball Arena, keeping her position near the top of the flyweight division. Judges Sal D’Amato and Crhis Lee favored Namajunas, 49-46, while Eric Colon had the former champion winning 48-47.
She was sharp and on point and left a positive overall impression.
The problem for Namajunas, who wants to fight for the belt, is that she probably needed something spectacular to cut the line and earn the nod to face the winner of the upcoming trilogy bout between champion Alexa Grasso and former champion Valentina Shevchenko. Manon Fiorot began Saturday with the inside track to face the winner, and she ended it the same way.
Fiorot not only handily defeated Namajunas in Paris when they met on Sept. 2 in Namajunas’ flyweight debut, but also won a clear decision over No. 3 Erin Blanchfield in March. For Namajunas, a two-time flyweight champion, to leapfrog Fiorot, she almost certainly needed a jaw-dropping performance against Cortez, who took the bout on less than three weeks’ notice when Maycee Barber was injured and had to withdraw.
Though there were little doubts about who won after 25 minutes, there was also nothing to pull anyone out of their seats and insist Namajunas skip the line.
She dropped Cortez with a left hook in the first and mixed her attack all night. She connected on 53 percent of her significant strikes (96 of 180) according to UFC Stats and was an impressive 5-for-5 in takedowns, accumulating more than six minutes of control time.
Namajunas connected with a crushing left hook in the first that dropped Cortez, the only knockdown of the fight. Namajunas followed Cortez to the floor but later admitted that might have been a mistake.
“I knew she was going to be really tough,” Namajunas said. “I think I maybe should have just let her get up. She’s really good in her guard and recovering. I had a thought that it could be the end, but I had a thought that, ‘Oh, she’s tough.’ ”
Cortez proved that without doubt, but she couldn’t generate consistent offense and that was her undoing. Namajunas got the best of the striking battle, using a sharp jab to control the fight on the feet, and she fashioned a 53 percent to 29 percent advantage in connect percentage on significant strikes.
Cortez was fighting in a five-round bout for the first time and did it at altitude in Denver, of all places. She was aware of that, particularly because she took the fight late.
“I know if I had a full camp to prepare — I mean, my cardio was there — I would have done a lot better,” Cortez said.
Namajunas was masterful at timing her shots so Cortez didn’t have an idea of what was to come. As a result, Namajunas was never really in danger.
But the only time she got close to a finish was in the first when she dropped Cortez, and it wasn’t all that close. Cortez was able to survive it fine.
Ultimately, it was a good performance by Namajunas and may move her up a notch or two from No. 6 in the flyweight rankings, but she’s unlikely to face the Grasso-Shevchenko winner unless there is an injury because she didn’t make her case forcefully enough Saturday.