[jiminy]

It was a great fight.

Joanna gave a much better account of herself in this fight and it still seems like a bitter pill for her to swallow, but Rose proved the main reasons she 'caught' Joanna the first time are still very much valid. Her movement and ability to control distance, spring in and out are on another level. I think she outclassed Joanna for 3 of the 5 rounds unquestionably.

Joanna may have statistically landed more strikes in each round, but all the quality was coming from Namajunas. She buckled and staggered Joanna numerous times and clearly did more damage, especially with her left hook which over time caused Joanna's eyeball to be swollen shut. I don't recall Joanna snapping Rose's head back like we saw Rose do to her. I think most of Joanna's punches were just grazing shots or too weak to be considered effective. Rose's defence was superior and she was landing the cleaner, more effective strikes.

49-46 seems a bit of a stretch. Joanna's work-rate was definitely higher in the 3rd and 4th rounds with much less output from Rose. A lot of people seemed to have it 48-47 but a clear win for Rose nonetheless.

It'll be interesting to see whether Joanna moves up to 125 next.