Longtime UFC color commentator Joe Rogan was brought to tears during his post-fight interview with newly-crowned women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas at UFC 261 on Saturday night.
Namajunas entered the Octagon at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on a mission to regain 115-pound gold. And she did it by knocking out then-champ Zhang Weili with a vicious head kick and follow-up strikes in the first round.
Watch the KO below:
MY GOODNESS! 👀
Rose Namajunas (+170) knocks out Weili Zhang to win the UFC Strawweight Championship! 🦶
As “Thug Rose” stood in the middle of the cage waiting to have the belt wrapped around her waist by UFC president Dana White, she broke into tears. And the tears continued after with Rogan joining her.
“Rose, there’s some special moments in MMA and I feel like I just witnessed a real one,” Rogan said. “You got me crying up here.”
Watch their post-fight interview below:
With the championship-winning performance on April 24, Thug Rose improved her MMA record to 10-4. She is 5-1 in her last six bouts and has earned seven of her 10 victories by way of finish.
On the other end, Weili’s 21-fight win streak was snapped at UFC 261. “Magnum” hadn’t tasted defeat since her professional MMA debut in 2013 and it was her first time getting finished in 23 matches.
At this moment in time, it’s unclear who will challenge for the UFC strawweight title next. Joanna Jedrzejczyk is the top-ranked contender behind Weili, however she has lost to Namajunas twice.
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Thug Rose Shook Up the World ‘Again,’ Plans to Open Up MMA Academies Around the World
In 2017, Thug Rose earned a shocking first-round TKO victory over Jedrzejczyk, dethroning the dominant strawweight champion. And on Saturday night, Rogan told Namajunas that she “shook up the world again.”
“I did it again!” Namajunas said. “But God did it, man. I really just had to have faith in him and that’s what got me through.”
At the end of the interview, Thug Rose also revealed she plans to open MMA academies around the globe. “I think that’s gonna be a solution to a lot of our problems in the world,” she said.
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UFC 261 Results
Here are the full fight-card results for UFC 261.
Main Card
Kamaru Usman def. Jorge Masvidal via second-round KO
Rose Namajunas def. Weili Zhang via first-round KO
Valentina Shevchenko def. Jessica Andrade via second-round TKO
Uriah Hall def. Chris Weidman via first-round TKO
Anthony Smith def. Jimmy Crute via first-round TKO
Preliminary Card
Randy Brown def. Alex Oliveira via first-round submission
Dwight Grant def. Stefan Sekulic via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Brendan Allen def. Karl Roberson via first-round submission
Patrick Sabatini def. Tristan Connelly via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Early Preliminary Card
Danaa Batgerel def. Kevin Natividad via first-round TKO
Kazula Vargas def. Rong Zhu via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-28, 29-28)
Jeffrey Molina def. Aoriqileng via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
Ariane Carnelossi def. Na Liang via second-round TKO
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Joe Rogan Brought to Tears: ‘You Got Me Crying’ [WATCH]