MMA

Pics: Paige VanZant Beaten Bloody, Choked Out by Rose Namajunas at UFC Fight Night 80

MMA


Paige VanZant is tough…but man, she is not ready for the big time.




That’s what it look like, at least, after taking a long, sustained, brutal beating from TUF20 finalist Rose Namajunas. The fight was a gory, ugly, arm-snapping affair that saw VanZant mount almost no offense.

The striking difference between the two was clear right from the start. Namajunas repeatedly stung VanZant with punches before taking her down. Namajunas started throwing some heavy elbows from top position and while she didn’t hold it for long, VanZant was bloodied up in a big way.

Paige after first being opened up. Photo by @gifdsports on Twitter.

Paige after first being opened up. Photo by @gifdsports on Twitter.

That was the beginning of the end. While VanZant was aggressive early, she was clearly fighting without the ferocity of Namajunas. Namajunas continued pressing the action, landing punches before getting another takedown and almost choking VanZant out. VanZant would survive the round, but things didn’t get any better from there.

The second, third and fourth were basically the same. Namajunas moved forward, popping VanZant with her hands. VanZant tried to work her grappling but Rose was just too smart and too strong. As the fight went on, VanZant started fighting stupider, going for silly head-and-arm throws and spinning backfists. Namajunas, though, started getting more and more on point with her submissions, twice popping Paige’s elbow out of place.

Photo by Zombie Prophet (@Zprophet_MMA on Twitter)

Photo by Zombie Prophet (@Zprophet_MMA on Twitter)

In the fifth, Rose continued working her grappling before working for a rear-naked choke. This time, Paige was forced to tap at 2:25 of Round 5.

VanZant is one of the fighters the UFC has given the red carpet treatment to. VanZant was left out of season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter, but was put right into the UFC as a result. When she first beat Kailin Curran in an impressively vicious fashion, though, she was instantly pegged by the UFC and Reebok as somebody that could be a big star due to her blonde hair and cute face.
See Paige Boodied and Chocked out Continued on the next page:


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