Dana White has been busy keeping his promotion afloat during the pandemic. The UFC has been consistently putting on shows, and most of the credit for that goes to White. Fight Island in Abu Dhabi turned out to be a fantastic idea, and UFC 254 will be the event that caps it off for now.

However, there was a time before the pandemic. In one of the last fights with crowds there to watch, Weili Zhang and Joanna Jedrzejczyk put on a fight of the year contender in the co-main event of UFC 248. Zhang would retain the UFC Strawweight Championship.

Former champion Rose Namajunas had been pegged as the most likely contender by most media outlets, something Dana White confirmed to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports.

“She’ll be coming back in early 2021. (Asked if Rose would be her opponent) Yeah, we hope so. We don’t know, we haven’t put it together yet. Rose has some surgery after her last fight, so it’s going to depend on how she’s healing.”

Namajunas had lost her UFC Strawweight Title to Jessica Andrade at UFC 237 via a brutal slam. However, ‘Thug Rose’ got her win back at UFC 251 to earn the next shot at Zhang, who beat Andrade for the title.

Dana White leaves the situation unclear with update

White was asked about the division, so he had to show his cards at that moment. Obviously, they wouldn’t announce a fight like this unless they were being asked about its preparation. However, at least this has cleared out who the challenger will be. While Rose fighting was a foregone conclusion, it is good to see White affirm that belief as well.

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The timeline for the fight, on the other hand, wasn’t clear. Early 2021 is quite ambiguous and could even stretch up till March. While a January booking would be ideal, it is completely up to how the UFC can manage the logistics. Zhang is also not an American fighter, so a location may not be as cut and dry. Hopefully, there is more clarity on this situation in the near future.