2024-07-14 13:00:02
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It’s a refrain frequently heard from high-end fighters when they face prospects or contenders attempting to climb the weight class ladder.
“There are levels to this.”
Never has it been any truer than in Saturday night’s main event, where two-time strawweight champion and current No. 6 flyweight contender Rose Namajunas was faced with a challenge from an ambitious Tracy Cortez.
Though Cortez had won 11 straight fights since her pro debut and five straight since a win on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019, she was in over her head and never had effective answers against Namajunas, who’d split a pair of fights at flyweight after her second title reign at the lower weight ended in 2022.
“Thug Rose” was effective at distance on the feet, moving in and out and bedeviling Cortez with precise shots whenever she chose to get aggressive, including a flash knockdown with a lead left hook midway through the first round.
Eventually, the aggression was tempered, and Cortez was picked apart for long stretches in addition to five takedowns and better than six minutes in control time.
“Once you face somebody at that level, you keep that in your head, and you compare it to everyone you fight,” analyst Dominick Cruz said. “Tracy’s going to have that in her head from here on out. (Namajunas is) content just touching, touching, touching. She stays consistent and then when the big shot comes, it’s there.”
All three judges gave it to Namajunas, with two seeing a 4-1 advantage in rounds and the third judge edging it to her by a 3-2 count. The win could provide a path toward the top at 125 pounds, which had been the domain of Valentina Shevchenko during her reign from 2018 to 2023 but is now led by incumbent Alexa Grasso.
“Gimme the belt, man. I want it,” Namajunas said. “I was Colorado’s first UFC champion and I’d like to bring a second one back. Or maybe a women’s BMF fight.”
