MMA
Rose Namajunas' manager explains heartbreaking reason why she withdrew from UFC 249
Rose Namajunas' manager Brian Butler-Au took to his Instagram account Thursday and revealed the reason why the former strawweight champ withdrew from her proposed UFC 249 bout against Jessica Andrade. And the details are downright heartbreaking.
Butler-Au said that Namajunas "withdrew from UFC 249 due to 2 deaths in the family related to the Coronavirus. Her hopes are to return to the Octagon as soon as possible but for now we ask for people to respect their privacy during this time."
The news came after UFC president Dana White had made the UFC 249 event on April 18 official this past Monday, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has shut down all other sports.
However, on Thursday, White announced that UFC 249, and all future UFC events, were postponed.
"Today, we got a call from the highest level you can go at Disney (parent company of ESPN), and the highest level at ESPN ... and the powers that be there asked me to stand down and not do this event on Saturday," White told ESPN's Brett Okamoto.
Namajunas was slated to face Andrade in a rematch of their May 2019 bout, in which Andrade scored a second-round TKO via a slam to capture the strawweight title, before losing it to Zhang Weili three months later.
