Kenny Florian thinks Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jedrzejczyk have a good chance at giving Weili Zhang problems.
Zhang made history at UFC Shenzhen. She defeated Jessica Andrade via TKO in 42 seconds to capture the UFC strawweight title. This makes Zhang the first UFC champion born in China.
While Zhang has realized a dream, the work has only just begun. On the Anik & Florian podcast, “KenFlo” said he believes Namajunas can step in to challenge Zhang for the gold.
“Listen, I think for Rose she’s pretty quiet,” Florian said. “Doesn’t like doing a whole lot of interviews or PR marketing stuff, but now’s the time for her to start to speak up and try to ask for this fight. I think she absolutely deserves it. I think she matches up very well against Zhang Weili.”
Florian also said that if Namajunas isn’t an option, another former champ in Jedrzejczyk could find herself right back in a strawweight title fight.
“And if that doesn’t happen then of course Joanna Jedrzejczyk and ‘The Karate Hottie,’ the winner of that fight probably makes sense as well,” Florian continued. “And you gotta love the way that Joanna Jedrzejczyk matches up against Zhang Weili as well. This could be an awesome opportunity for either Rose or Joanna to go back in there and get the belt.”
Namajunas hasn’t competed since losing her title to Andrade back in May. She hasn’t committed to anything in terms of her fighting future since. As for Jedrzejczyk, she’ll go one-on-one with Michelle Waterson on Oct. 12.
Do you think Rose Namajunas or Joanna Jedrzejczyk can dethrone Weili Zhang?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/4/2019.