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Edgar Chaput
Manon Fiorot vs Rose Namajunas Prediction, UFC Fight Night Odds
The Accor Arena along the Seine in Paris’ 12th district will host UFC Fight Night to close out September. In the lead-up to the main event, fans will be treated to a flyweight fight between American Rose Namajunas and Nice native Manon Fiorot.
The MMA odds hand Manon Fiorot status as a slight favourite, priced at -175. Her counterpart is priced at +140.
Manon Fiorot UFC Fight Night Odds Analysis
Saturday night will be a special occasion. UFC rarely makes treks outside the United States, and events in France are new (the sport was only legalized in 2020). What’s more, Manon Fiorot will be performing in front of a home crowd in an event of this magnitude for the first time in her career.
Nicknamed “The Beast”, Manon Fiorot, 33 years old, sports a strong 10-1 record. A black belt in Karate, she’s been on a role. In October 2021 she came face to face with Mayra Bueno Silva at UFC Fight Night: Ladd vs. Dumont and won via a unanimous decision. Shortly thereafter Fiorot opted to stay long-term with UFC courtesy of a multi-year deal. She celebrated with a win over Jessica Maia in March 2022 at UFC on ESPN 33. Then there was a wild turn of events that eventually led to a fight against Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 280 (Chookagian was the original opponent, then replaced by Jessica Andrade, then Chookagain replaced her!). Another unanimous decision went Fiorot’s way.
The French native has a slight height advantage at five feet seven inches to Namajunas’ five feet five. Their reach is equal at 65 inches, but her opposite number has a one-and-a-half-inch superior leg reach (39.5 to 38). Even though her last three wins came thanks to judges’ decisions, that outcome only represents 45 per cent of her victories. The other 55 are via KO and TKO. She takes a bit more time than Namajunas to finish off opponents (15:00 to 13:36). Where things get interesting is the significant hits category. Fiorot excels here, landing 5.3 per minute and only taking 3.48.
Rose Namajunas UFC Fight Night Odds Analysis
The 31-year-old Milwaukee native is a black belt in both Karate and Taekwondo. Popularly known as “Thug,” she is the only woman in the sport to win the same belt twice (the strawweight championship). Her 12-5 record doesn’t impress as much as her rival’s 10-1, but being a two-time belt winner makes up for that. This will be her flyweight debut.
Unfortunately, her most recent bout was the one that stripped her of the title. It came at UFC 271 in May 2022 against Carla Esparza. A split decision went against her, putting an end – for now – to her strawweight category. Prior to that were back-to-back tilts with Zhang Weili. The first was in April 2021 at UFC 261 for the championship. A first-round knockout of Weili granted Namajunas her the belt. The second fight with Weili was in November of that same year at UFC 268, when a split decision favoured her.
Namajunas is a bit lighter than Fiorot, coming in 115.00 lbs to her rival’s 125.00. With that could come some additional swiftness. Of note, even though none of her recent contests were won by submission, overall, that’s her main method of victory. A considerable 50 per cent are arrived at that way. 33 per cent are thanks to the judges, with the remaining 17 with knockouts and technical knockouts. While she takes a comparable number of significant strikes every 60 seconds (3.50 to 3.48), Namajunas doesn’t land nearly as many (3.66 to 5.3). Her defence against them is a sound 60 per cent. Grappling is a bigger part of her game, with 1.66 attempts every 15 minutes to her opponent’s 0.33.
