Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Strawweight standouts Rose Namajunas vs. Natalia Silva will collide this weekend (Sat., Jan. 24, 2026) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada for UFC 324.
Five fights into her Flyweight career, Namajunas’ position in her new division feels fairly established. Though undoubtedly a Top 10 contender, “Thug Rose” has struggled against the absolute elite of the division, coming up short twice in possible title eliminator matchups. This will be another opportunity
for Namajunas to clear that hurdle, however, as Silva is the division’s best young talent. Already ranked at No. 2 after decisively defeating former champion Alexa Grasso, the 28-year-old Brazilian is looking to lock down the first title shot of her career by knocking off another ex-champ.
Let’s take a closer look at the betting odds and strategic keys for each athlete:
Namajunas vs. Silva Betting Odds
- Rose Namajunas victory: +230
- Rose Namajunas via TKO/KO/DQ: TBD
- Rose Namajunas via submission: TBD
- Rose Namajunas via decision: TBD
- Natalia Silva victory: -300
- Natalia Silva via TKO/KO/DQ: TBD
- Natalia Silva via submission: TBD
- Natalia Silva via decision: TBD
- Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
How Namajunas Wins
At her best, Namajunas is one of the greats. Her boxing can truly be sublime, a great mix of in-and-out movement and power punching. It’s become something of a forgotten element to her game, but Namajunas’ grappling is top-notch as well.
Namajunas has to make her moments count her, as she’s facing a deficit in youth, athleticism, and volume. That might not have been the case at Strawweight, where Namajunas was much more likely to hurt and stop her opponents. At 125-pounds, however, it has to be noted that Namajunas isn’t finishing fights and tires from wrestling a little more quickly.
Hopefully, Namajunas will account for that change, because she’s not going to beat Silva on the numbers game. Instead, Namajunas should be trying to press the Brazilian and draw big reactions from her. If she can convince Silva to spin at the wrong time, that could be an effortless and fight-changing back take. Similarly, Silva’s boxing is rather wild, so Namajunas could find real success convincing her to swing wide then slamming straight punches down the middle first.
How Silva Wins
Silva is competing with Manon Fiorot for the current title of division’s most athletic fighter. She’s quick as can be and has endless energy, a bounce in her step that refuses to quit. Her Taekwondo background is very apparent, as Silva is constantly springing into kicks at a remarkable rate, which wear her opponents down quickly. Silva’s boxing is more along the lines of enthusiastic than technical, but it works anyway because of attrition and speed.
In the smaller weight classes — male or female — decisions are decided by volume a great deal of the time. That’s Silva’s great asset: she’s not a knockout artist, (barring a perfect kick), but she’ll happily win by one thousand cuts. That’s a solid plan against Namajunas, whose kicking game has been more limited in recent years and will likely struggle to match Silva’s range output.
The biggest key here for Silva is to avoid turning her back. She loves a spin kick and is good at them, but there has to be calculated risk here. Generally, Silva has not been punished for that habit, because she’s a good scrambler able to escape from bad spots. Given Namajunas’ experience and the fact that this is only a 15-minute fight, however, Silva has to be a little more cautious of giving Namajunas a chance to employ her grappling.
Namajunas vs. Silva Prediction
It’s exceedingly hard not to favor Silva here. The Brazilian very much looks the part of a future champion coming into her own, a bright light in a generally slow division. Namajunas, conversely, has looked consistently lackluster even in her 125-pound victories. She’s still a very good fighter to be clear, but the lightning has left the bottle. She’s no longer a dynamic and deadly finisher — it’s been nearly five years since her most recent finish.
Namajunas isn’t likely to stop Silva with strikes, nor is she going to hold down the younger and stronger woman for three rounds. The most likely outcome is a competitive striking match early on that quickly grows to favor Silva as the kicks begin to land and fatigue separates them further.
