Paige VanZant has admitted to being comprehensively outclassed by Rose Namajunas at UFC Fight Night 80 in Las Vegas on Thursday after losing to her in a fifth-round submission in a one-sided affair.
According to Mike Bohn and Kath Hathaway of MMA Junkie, the 21-year-old was in tears at her post-fight press conference, and said:
I got outclassed in every way. I guess when I got hit I got rocked pretty bad. I’m new; I got to get my technique better.
I’m just new; I got a lot to learn. Just working with my team—I’m trying not to cry, guys—just working with my team, trying to get my technique better. You can’t just be aggressive to win fights. I just wasn’t prepared for that fight.
As the report noted, VanZant—whose defeat to Namajunas was only her fourth UFC outing—has perhaps been over-promoted early in her short career, and after being built up so much, the 21-year-old had further to fall.
Bleacher Report columnist Jonathan Snowden highlighted the one-sided nature of the contest:
Lots of talk about Rose looking "better." That's what happens when you fight untested prospects instead of top fighters.
— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) December 11, 2015
However, despite Namajunas' excellent and unrelenting attacking display, in which she landed a great many strikes and had plenty of success on the mat, the bloodied VanZant impressed with her refusal to give in, per UFC:
ZERO QUIT in @PaigeVanZantUFC!!! #UFCVegas https://t.co/pwuWOh704E
— #UFCVegas (@ufc) December 11, 2015
MMA Junkie's Chamatkar Sandhu praised her efforts and believes she ultimately stands to gain from the experience:
VanZant might not win this fight but she's really shown some heart and resilience in not giving up in what has been a one sided beat down.
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) December 11, 2015
Well that was just an awesome performance by Namajunas. Gets the RNC submission victory in the 5th round. PVZ will learn a lot from this.
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) December 11, 2015
Indeed, after being exposed to the harsh realities of MMA for the first time, VanZant will need to pick herself up after being dismantled and will need to learn from her preparation, approach and most importantly the fight itself in order to bounce back in her next Octagon bout.
MMAFighting's Marc Raimondo believes with youth on her side, the damage to VanZant's career will be fairly minimal, while Namajunas is set for bigger and better things:
Don’t know if PVZ lost so much stock tonight. She’s 21, will be fine. Rose, though, looked excellent. Bet she fights for title again in ’16.
— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) December 11, 2015
Next up for the winner could indeed be current strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who watched on from the stands.
As for VanZant, more work is certainly needed before she can match the top talents in the division, but she'll take great encouragement from the way she defended, and the impeccable attitude she demonstrated throughout the fight.
