Rose Namajunas became the UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion when she scored a first round TKO over Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217.
Valentina Shevchenko trains with Namajunas at the 303 Training Center and claims she knew who was going to win the title bout at Madison Square Garden.
“I knew from the first seconds when I heard that they will fight, I knew that Rose will win,” Shevchenko said on The MMA Hour. “Because I’ve tried the power of Rose and I’ve tried the power of Joanna and I know exactly what powers both girls have. I knew and everybody was asking me before they fight, ‘Who do you think will win?’ Every time, I was saying it will be Rose. They didn’t believe me. But after the fight, it’s no doubt.”
While Namajunas won the gold that night at UFC 217, it was also the first time Jedrzejczyk suffered a defeat in her professional MMA career.
Now that her prediction for UFC 217 came to fruition, another prediction Shevchenko is making is that Namajunas is going to be champion for a long time.
“Rose will do her thing, she will be focused only on her fight and just to show the skills,” Shevchenko said. “This is what we saw. I'm very happy for Rose, because she deserves it. I know exactly she will be very good champion at 115 and I think for a long time.”
Shevchenko has some work to get done now because the fighter makes her flyweight division debut against Priscila Cachoeira at UFC Fight Night Belem this February.
