UFC 261: Rose Namajunas says China’s Zhang Weili ‘may be being told what to say’

‘Can we even really know what she actually believes?’ Namajunas asks of UFC strawweight champ ahead of April 24 title fight

‘Thug’ has no regrets over ‘better dead than red’ comments – ‘with communism, you can’t freely have an opinion or criticise your government’

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Zhang Weili will face Rose Namajunas at UFC 261. Photo: AP and Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Published: 7:09am, 15 Apr 2021Updated: 8:30pm, 16 Apr 2021

“Thug” Rose Namajunas insists she has no regrets over her “better dead than red” comments that have added spice to April 24’s UFC 261 title fight against China’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili.

Namajunas (10-4) drew criticism from some fans for a perceived attack on Zhang (21-1), who had said she wanted to “bond” with her opponent even if she beats her in Jacksonville, Florida.

But the Lithuanian-American former champ doubled down on her words in an interview on Wednesday with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, who suggested some fans might think it was unfair to bring politics into the situation given Zhang has not spoken about her political beliefs.

“That’s true and I don’t know what her beliefs are,” Namajunas said. “But here’s the thing, and this is a question maybe we should ask her, can we even really know what she actually believes? She may be being told what to say. I don’t know. Do we know exactly what she believes?

“For me and for my experience with communism, is that you can’t freely have an opinion, you can’t criticise your government,” she said.