Natalia Silva continued her winning ways at UFC 324 with a hard-fought decision win over Rose Namajunas.
While it was anything but a barnburner, Silva ultimately got the nod, although there were plenty
of opinions that Namajunas deserved the decision. Either way, the judges all agreed with identical 29-28 scorecards going to Silva, who remains undefeated in the octagon.
“I am so happy to be here,” Silva said after her latest win. “I am so grateful and sorry today, this was not my best moment. Only god knows how hard it was for me to be here now. A lot of people were putting me as a very heavy favorite. Rose is an amazing athlete. I was facing this as the toughest fight of my life.”
A lot of movement from Silva with Namajunas trying to measure her strikes from the outside got the fight started, although neither flyweight was connecting with much accuracy. Namajunas countered a kick from Silva with a slick right hand that landed clean before backing out again.
Namajunas then tossed up several kicks in a row and actually threw a well-timed spinning back fist, although Silva got out of the way before she got hit. Still it showcased Namajunas’ creativity while Silva just couldn’t seem to find a home for her best strikes.
Silva got a little more aggressive in round two but she still seemed content to throw one strikes at a time without really putting together combinations. Namajunas countered effectively while also staving off a takedown attempt from Silva and then reversed positions before putting the Brazilian on her back.
On top, Namajunas was maintaining control and peppering away with short punches and Silva seemed resigned to just holding on without offering much resistance from the bottom.
Likely down on the scorecards, Silva was forced to get more active and started taking more chances, but that also opened up her defense for Namajunas to fire back. Silva was doing a good job keeping Namajunas at the end of her strikes but she wasn’t really hurting the former strawweight champion with hopes of potentially earning a finish.
With just over a minute remaining, Namajunas dove on the legs for a takedown but Silva resisted and started throwing punches, which brought the fighters back to the feet. Silva then landed a well-timed throw of her own but she didn’t do much of anything on the ground until Namajunas scrambled free and got back to her feet.
That’s how the fight ended with Silva having her best round in the third and that obviously sealed the fight for her on the scorecards.
It remains to be seen if that’s enough for Silva to get a shot at UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko next but she seems to be the most likely contender following this latest win.
