The evolution of ‘Thug’ Rose runs as deep as the strawweight division

[Wild]

Hard to believe, but the UFC women’s strawweight division will (officially) turn three this year. It’s actually been a lot of fun sorting it out, especially with the original bundle of straws being dropped into the aquarium reality of The Ultimate Fighter franchise like a kind of divisional meet-and-greet. That season — the most compelling in years — gave rise to Angela Hill (today’s Twitter titan), the confectionary duo of Bec Rawlings and Angela Magana (still double trouble), Carla Esparza (the original champ), Joanne Calderwood (all subtitles and volume adjustment) and Felice Herrig (nobody rolled her eyes better).

And of course it produced Rose Namajunas, who fights tonight in Kansas City as the co-main event at UFC on FOX 24 against Michelle Waterson, the former atomweight champion of Invicta FC. It’s been a strange ride for “Thug” Rose, who has grown up with the division.

Namajunas, you might remember, emerged as the intrigue on the show, the one that Dana White and company tinseled with unreasonable expectations. If Phil Nover was the next GSP, and Uriah Hall the next Anderson Silva, the then 21-year old Namajunas was the next Ronda Rousey. But it wasn’t quite that simple. She lost to Esparza in the TUF 20 Finale, in a bout that was perhaps too much too soon. Two-and-a-half years later, Namajunas, now 24, remains an intrigue from that original cast, even as others — like current champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Paige VanZant and Waterson — have come in and made the division their own.

Still, the early setbacks feel as misguided as they do meaningful. There is a feeling about Namajunas that continues to hover in wait — as if the sparks we’ve seen in her fights with Hill and Tecia Torres are part of a fiery whole that everyone expects will one day fully materialize. Maybe it was the way she showed up on relative short notice for her fight with VanZant looking like a Hare Krishna. There was something piercing and inevitable about Namajunas in that fight, something focused and unburdened that filled in a few blanks. We knew that she spoke with a hood-inflected slang that didn’t feel very Wisconsin — that “thug” nickname carries a back-story, after all! — but it was that she refused to make it a beauty pageant with VanZant that carried import.

The revelation: There’s more to Rose....

Read Full Article HERE: The evolution of ‘Thug’ Rose runs as deep as the strawweight division

 

[Report]

i love her

 

[Onetrickpony]

I like both her and Waterson but I kind of feel bad for whoever wins because they are going to get destroyed by jedrzejczyk.

 

[Jdog93]

Shes definitely elite level. But Joanna champ is on a whole other.. She will piece her up badly. To be fair my beloved Karate Hottie aswell

 

[1031]

You could run a state-level amateur tournament for 17-19 year old males and be 80% (at a minimum) more likely to find a deeper talent pool.

fwiw

 

[Onetrickpony]

You could run a state-level amateur tournament for 17-19 year old males and be 80% (at a minimum) more likely to find a deeper talent pool.

fwiw

That may be but you can't look at it like that.

Most of us watched mma during the fledgling years where the skill level wasn't anywhere near where it is today. But those fights were exciting and what got us into the sport. The mens divisions have had more time to evolve and it shows, but that doesn't mean that the mma from ten years ago wasn't good. We are watching the women's divisions come alive in the same way that we watched the mens 20 years ago. Sure there are fighters that are heads and shoulders above others but it was the same before.

I was not on board with wmma at the beginning but after watching the women leave everything in the cage I became a fan. The fights may not always be the most technically sound but they are usually goddamn exciting and thats more than enough for me.

 

[1031]

That may be but you can't look at it like that.

It's not a knock on anyone's spirit or will to be better. I'm only comparing "it" to the thread title.

 

[Onetrickpony]

It's not a knock on anyone's spirit or will to be better. I'm only comparing "it" to the thread title.

That makes sense.

 

[Chromium]

As far as the global population, using FightMatrix's generated historical rankings and comparing them against the current Women's Strawweight rankings, the depth at Women's Strawweight is roughly about the same as Men's Lightweight 14 years ago. Basically, they're still a lot shallower than any of the Men's divisions (not counting Men's Strawweight or SHW), but comparisons to regional amateur stuff is silly (I assume that was a joke).

No matter how you slice it, the evolution of the division is extremely impressive, and they're also the fastest growing division in the sport by a wide margin.

 

[check it]

I was not on board with wmma at the beginning but after watching the women leave everything in the cage I became a fan. The fights may not always be the most technically sound but they are usually goddamn exciting and thats more than enough for me.

I wasn't into wmma either at first...but now sometimes they're the best fight on the card. ...almost. at least i mean ive noticed less guys going for snacks or beer runs during girl fights in the live thread than at the beginning..

Rose is my fav..she has technical skills that get me hyped...that flying armbar shizzz and that standing rnc on hill was sweet.