If there is one thing that Andrade couldn’t believe about the bout, it was that she used a pile driver against the former champion.
“I noticed she was dodging (my strikes), blood got in my eyes and I couldn’t see anything, but I stayed calm because the strategy was right,” Andrade said at the post-fight press conference (via Alexander K. Lee & Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting). “I spoke with my master in between rounds and he said that I had already felt her hands, that I knew what could happen, ‘So let’s keep going because everything will be alright now. Keep working on those kicks because she’s getting tired.’ And it worked. When I put her against the fence, he said, ‘Go for it, go for it because it will work.’ I couldn’t believe I went for the pile driver.”
That takedown, while no doubt brutal, is a legal move for fighters to use in a professional MMA bout.
Andrade was also glad that Namajunas survived the slam unharmed in the end, despite the fact that the former champion was briefly knocked out by it.
“I saw her lying there, that she was out, and I still landed two punches before the referee stepped in,” Andrade said. “But I hadn’t realized how serious it was. I got worried because we train to go in there and fight and everyone comes out okay. She woke up later and I relaxed, ‘Okay, I can celebrate for real now because she’s fine. Everything went fine, I didn’t kill her [laughs].’ I didn’t imagine that would happen. I believe the pile driver worked because she kept holding my arm and I think she was going for a submission, but since I took her too high and moved her over my head and threw her, there was no way, she fell on her face and went out immediately.”
The newly crowned champion has picked up seven professional MMA wins by way of KO/TKO, but that was her first victory by pile driver.
