As far as UFC fight walkout music goes, you can certainly do a lot worse than AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” blaring out of arena speakers in front of 15,000 screaming Brazilian fans. That’s the song that accompanied Rose Namajunas’ walk to the cage for her big UFC 237 title fight against Jessica Andrade. Interestingly enough, it turns out that Namajunas wasn’t the one who picked that song. It wasn’t her long-term partner Pat Barry’s choice either, although you’d figure that’s exactly the kind of jam he’d love. It turns out it was UFC President Dana White, purveyor of all things 90s metal and earlier, who made the selection. Namajunas made a tongue-in-cheek Instagram post regarding the choice after her second round slam knockout loss on Saturday night. ”That’s the last time I let @danawhite pick my walk out song,” Rose wrote with a emoticon. “Thank you Brazil I will never forget this experience.” Just to make it 100 percent clear that Namajunas wasn’t blaming White for anything, her manager Brian Butler from Suckerpunch Entertainment added a bit of extra context to the post. ”So there were technical difficulties for Rose Namajunas’ walk out songs her past 2 fights so when the UFC asked what she wanted this time she said she didn’t care and to have Dana White pick the song...” Butler wrote. “Well played Thug Rose! She is in good spirits.” As for those technical difficulties, they started at UFC 217 for Namajunas’ first fight against Joanna Jedrzejczyk when UFC accidentally played Mark Godbeer’s walkout song “Supersonic” by Oasis again instead of whatever she wanted. We’re not sure what went wrong at UFC 223 for her rematch with Jedrzejczyk ... maybe they played the wrong remix of “Sleepy Language” by Layo & Bushwacka? At least Namajunas didn’t have an imposter picking ridiculous song choices for her. But we can understand the frustration of asking for a certain song and then having to walk out to the wrong goddamn track. Certain athletes can’t get their s**t together without going through a precise pre-game ritual. That seems a bit extreme, but it’s much more understandable that Namajunas would rather just cede responsibility for song choice rather than pick a deeply emotional cut and then have the booty remix play her to the cage.<doc-sep>Rose Namajunas makes her first defense of the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship in over a year, as she takes on Jessica Andrade in the main event of UFC 237, which takes place at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Namajunas enters this fight on a three-fight win streak but hasn’t fought since UFC 223 in April 2018. In November 2017, at UFC 217, Namajunas pulled off a major upset by dethroning Joanna Jedrzejczyk and ending her undefeated streak to become the new 115-pound champion. She defeated Jedrzejczyk in a classic rematch at the April event. Andrade, who competes in her home country and enters with a three-fight win streak of her own, most recently competed at UFC 228 in September, scoring a first-round knockout of Karolina Kowalkiewicz in a title eliminator. UFC 237 will also feature legendary Brazilian former champions Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo, who compete against up-and-coming contenders Jared Cannonier and Alexander Volkanovski, respectively. FIGHT SPORTS brings you live coverage of UFC 237!<doc-sep>Dana White Says Jessica Andrade Is An Absolute Beast, This Is Really Tough Fight For Rose Namajunas Reigning UFC Strawweight champion Rose Namajunas will be defending her title tonight (Sat., May 11, 2019) at UFC 237 PPV event from inside Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when she clashes against top contender Jessica Andrade. Namajunas (8-3) holds a pair of victories over former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, in first outing ‘Thug Rose’ stole the title from Joanna, and in the second run she defended the strap successfully last year. Ahead of her UFC 237 bout Rose Namajunas opens a slight underdog to top-ranked challenger Jessica Andrade. Even previously Namajunas defies the odds to win the title at UFC 217. Considering Andrade is a tough opponent, this fight would be a tough test for Namajunas. UFC head honcho Dana White recently talked about Namajunas vs. Andrade bout saying people are downgrading ‘Thug Rose’ once again. “This is a really tough fight for her. Andrade is a beast, an absolutely beast,” said White during a recent appearance on the Jim Rome show (quotes via MMA Weekly). “A lot of people think Andrade is going to run right through Rose but let’s not forget Rose beat Joanna Jedrzejczyk twice and everybody on her way to get to Joanna Jedrzejczyk. She looks better every time she fights. “This is one of those fights I have no idea how this is going to go. I get why Rose is the underdog but people are underestimating Rose once again.” White is respecting champion Namajunas’ willingness to fight at her opponent Andrade’s turf Brazil. White was explaining his phone call to Rose about fighting on foreign soil a place where Crowd is pretty harsh and hostile toward non-Brazilians. “A lot of people will not go down to Brazil,” White said. “They fear that they don’t get the right call from the judges and the crowd is so hostile. It’s basically Brazil versus the world,” White explained. “When I tell you this, we called Rose Namajunas and told her this fight and told her that she was going to be defending her title in Brazil, on Andrade’s home turf, [she] didn’t even flinch. Didn’t even question it. Nothing. She just accepted the fight and I have a lot of respect for her for that.” Let’s wait and see who’s the better fighter tonight, but if Namajunas run over Andrade tonight as she did twice to Joanna, it’s time now she should be considered the best Strawweight of all time.<doc-sep>
Rose Namajunas is no longer the UFC strawweight champion. She lost that distinction in the main event of UFC 237 on Saturday night, when she was put to sleep by a wicked slam courtesy of her challenger, Jessica Andrade. Despite this abrupt and brutal end to her reign as UFC strawweight queen, Rose Namajunas seems to be in good spirits. Speaking on her Instagram account, she divulged that UFC President Dana White had picked her walkout music for this fight (Thunderstruck by AC/DC), and joked that, after the unfavourable outcome of the fight, she won’t be giving him this responsibility again. “That’s the last time I let @danawhite pick my walk out song 😑 Thank you Brazil I will never forget this experience 🙏🏼” – Rose Namajunas on Instagram. Namajunas’ manager, Brian Butler, later provided some clarity as to why Dana White was given the responsibility of picking her walkout music. Apparently, after enduring technical difficulties in the past, Namajunas wasn’t really concerned with the song choice and decided to let the UFC boss handle it to avoid disappointment. “So there were technical difficulties for @rosenamajunas walk out songs her past 2 fights so when the @ufc asked what she wanted this time she said she didn’t care and to have @danawhitepick the song… well played #thugrose😂 *She is in good spirits 🙏🏼” – Brian Butler on Instagram. Prior to her loss to Jessica Andrade, Rose Namajunas was on a three-fight streak. This streak was composed of a pair of wins over Joanna Jedrzejczyk — a knockout and a decision — and a submission of Michelle Waterson. Her next most recent loss occurred in July of 2016 when she gave up a razor close decision to Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Now 8-4 overall, Namajunas has expressed uncertainty surrounding the future of her fighting career, and even suggested that she could potentially be retiring. This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/12/2019. This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM