Rose Namajunas came out victorious on July 13, when she faced Tracy Cortez in the UFC Fight Night main event live from Ball Arena in Denver, CO. Battling it out in front of her local crowd, the former two-time strawweight champion secured the win by unanimous decision. After five rounds at flyweight, the scores were 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47.
Namajunas improved to 14-6 and earned her second straight victory. In her post-fight interview, the 32-year-old native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin called for a title shot in her second weight class.
30-year-old Tracy Cortez dropped to 11-2. The Phoenix, Arizona native got her 11-fight winning streak snapped.
“Denver has been so good to me for so many years. I had a rough upbringing and just when I’m here, it’s like I could just kind of breathe,” Rose Namajunas said. “So, I thank you guys so much.”
“I knew she was going to be really tough. I think, I should have just maybe let her up, but she was really good at getting her guard and recovering. So, yeah I had a thought that it could have been the end [when Cortez got dropped], but I was like ‘oh she’s tough’.”
“I knew her wrestling was really good and I knew she’s really good at getting back up. So, I was just hesitant to wrestle too much, but I just kept feeling successful there, so I just kept going to it.”
“Give me the belt, man. I want it. I’m Colorado’s first UFC champion, so I want to bring the second one back here. So, either that or maybe a women’s BMF.”
Get UFC Denver: Namajunas vs Cortez full card results.