Rose Namajunas News

Justin Golightly - February 13, 2018

In a couple of months, Rose Namajunas will march into the Octagon again to see if she can beat former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk back-to-back at UFC 223. Teammate and friend Justin Gaethje thinks it’s as good as wrapped up already. Citing difficulties with her weight cut, Jedrzejczyk says things will be different this time in the rematch. Gaethje thinks that the way Namajunas won, didn’t have anything to do with the weight cut, which shouldn’t be an excuse anyway. “I think [Joanna Jedrzejczyk]’s weak-minded for [talking about her drastic weight cut complications], even if it is true. It’s her own business. And no matter what, it could be true to the core and you could have proof, who’s going to [care]? Like, I’m not going to support you. Okay, whose fault was it? At the end of the day, whose fault was it? It was your fault. Do you have a scale at your house? Then you get to step on the scale every single morning, just like every single one of us do. We worry about our weight the whole camp, and I’ve never had a nutritionist help me in my entire life. […] I made weight in college eating McDonald’s every day. It’s willpower. You either f-cking do it or you don’t do it.”

Justin Golightly - February 9, 2018

With a slew of wild superfights down the pipeline for 2018, the fights at UFC 223 are still so crazy that they shine through the chaos. Not only is Khabib Nurmagomedov fighting Tony Ferguson in the main event, the co-main will be Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s highly anticipated rematch with Rose Namajunas. The stoic Thug Rose boxed up the dominant champion and shocked the world at UFC 217, now they run it back. This time, Namajunas thinks she’ll get the submission and cement herself as the best strawweight on the planet beating Jedrzejczyk back-to-back like Max Holloway did to Jose Aldo. “It’s probably the most exciting fight that everybody can look forward to. I think that’s a big part of [Joanna Jedrzejczyk getting the immediate rematch], but also I don’t see anybody else that can really challenge at this point. You’ve got Jessica Andrade and Tecia [Torres] will probably be the only other one, maybe Claudia Gadelha but I thought she was injured. Joanna’s beaten all those girls, other than Tecia obviously, but she’s way far ahead of those other girls. […] I had a perfect gampelan for everything that [Jedrzejczyk] was doing. I knew exactly where she was going to be, where she was, I’ve been studying her for many years and knew exactly what she was going to do before she did it.”

Justin Golightly - February 7, 2018

There has been a lot on mixed opinions and controversy since Valentina Shevchenko’s domination against Priscila Cachoeira at UFC Belem. So much so, that Shevchenko’s amazing performance has taken a back seat to referee and corner criticism. Rose Namajunas has put in many hours with ‘The Bullet’ so she was watching the fight closely. She recently opened up about her thoughts on if they fight should have been stopped or not. If it was her? She definitely would have wanted the towel threw in. “That [late stoppage is] a touchy subject. I think clearly you saw that [Priscila Cachoeira] wasn’t going to improve her position [against Valentina Shevchenko]. So, you could definitely make the argument for that was a little too long.  […] I told my corner [Trevor Whitman] that if I’m lookin’ like that in a fight, the just throw in the towel for me, but that’s my personal choice. Those strikes on the canvas – in certain positions they weren’t that bad – but when you’re in full mount and somebody is raining down punches on you, your head is hitting the canvas too so it’s like double impact.”

Drake Riggs - January 23, 2018

 “That’s the tough part (doing a rematch). You can’t paint the Mona Lisa twice. It has to be something different, but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, either. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing but keep getting better obviously all the time. (I knew I was going to knock her out) because everyone is so desperate for the takedown. Everyone tries to take her down from what I see. I stand across from Valentina Shevchenko, and we go back-and-forth, and it’s not a thing to me. I’ve got Pat ‘HD’ Barry in my corner. I’ve got Trevor Wittman. I’ve done taekwondo striking my entire life. It’s not something I’ve never seen before.

Justin Golightly - January 17, 2018

The UFC isn’t playing around this year. Fresh off the heels of an undisputed title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson being made official for UFC 223, there is another huge fight being slated to join them. Rose Namajunas is expected to defend her UFC strawweight championship against former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk after shockingly taking it from her back at UFC 217 in one of the organization’s biggest upsets in their history. First reported by TalkMMA, the information has now been confirmed by Ariel Helwani as being discussed, but not finalized yet. Rose Namajunas to defend her title against Joanna Jedrzejczyk April 7th at #UFC223 (No location/venue announced yet)

Tom Taylor - January 16, 2018

Back in November, in the first of three title fights on the UFC 217 bill, a widely unheralded Rose Namajunas shocked the world by drubbing Joanna Jedrzejczyk to a first-round knockout win. Since then, the big question has been who Namajunas will fight in her first strawweight title defense.

Chris Taylor - January 7, 2018

Rose Namajunas wants “the scariest person” for her first title defense. “Thug Rose” shocked the mixed martials arts world at November’s UFC 217 event in New York when she scored a brutal first-round knockout victory over Joanna Jedrzejczyk, thus claiming the UFC’s coveted strawweight championship.

Justin Golightly - January 4, 2018

Thug Rose. Thug Rose. Thug Rose. Daniel Cormier hollered over and over again as Joe Rogan and Jon Anik freaked out. As we all freaked out. Stoic and immovable Rose Namajunas, her golden locks iconically clean shaven, upset Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217 to become the new women’s UFC strawweight champion. She was a huge underdog and there were already whispers of  ‘GOAT’ when using Jedrzejczyk’s name in a sentence. Namajunas put that all to rest with one fade left hook. It’s this performance that clinched ESPN to award her with their ‘Fighter of the Year’ award. She reflected back on the historic moment with ESPN’s own Brett Okamoto. “I felt like I was part of the Knicks basketball team [before the fight with Joanna Jedrzejczyk]. I was in that really nice locker room and I felt so light on my feet, so agile — just great. Superhuman at that moment. [Saying the Lord’s Prayer] was a habit for me growing up. When I was helpless and didn’t know what to do — that was something I said to make me feel better. Now it’s way more intentional.”

Drake Riggs - December 27, 2017

Prior to the massive upset that turned out to be Rose Namajunas vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Joanna was looking for a fight with Valentina Shevchenko at 135 lbs. Yep…that’s two weight classes above her own! The two have already fought before in Muay Thai but an opportunity arose back at UFC 213 when Amanda Nunes pulled out of the planned rematch against Shevchenko. This prompted a brief attempt from Joanna to make everything work in her favor so that she could save the card with Shevchenko. This obviously didn’t happen, but both were down for the fight and many had been hoping for an eventual super fight between the two at the weight between both of theirs in the Flyweight division. Of course, that’s still possible but it looks less likely now that Shevchenko’s teammate, Namajunas has dethroned Joanna. Shevchenko knows a thing or two about Namajunas as well as Joanna who she defeated three times in Muay Thai. In a recent interview on the MMA Hour, she claims to have predicted the outcome that occurred at UFC 217.

Tom Taylor - December 21, 2017

According to a report from Bartek Stachura of Lowking.PL, Rose Namajunas will defend her new strawweight title at UFC 221 in Perth, Western Australia on February 11. Her opponent will be Tecia Torres, who she has fought twice before. Rose Namajunas vs. Tecia Torres III in the works for #UFC221 in Perth.

Justin Golightly - December 8, 2017

Joanna Jędrzejczyk w @przeglad pierwszy raz tak otwarcie o katorżniczym zbijaniu wagi, które jej zdaniem spowodowało przegraną z Rose Namajunas. Cały wywiad na stronie Przeglądu Sportowego, wieczorem na Youtube https://t.co/3xTHDGzJTK pic.twitter.com/XxR3HPT5iy — Przemysław Osiak (@PrzemyslawOsiak) December 8, 2017

Justin Golightly - November 15, 2017

At UFC 217, Rose Namajunas marched in there and did the unthinkable. In one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, Namajunas took out Joanna Jedrzejczyk and was crowned the new UFC strawweight champion. Given that she had been so incredibly dominant in her title reign, it wouldn’t be out of the question for the UFC to give her an immediate rematch against Thug Rose. While that’s not official yet, Jedrzejczyk does know when she’ll be back inside the Octagon. According to a translation of the video above provided by Bartek Stachura from Lowking.pl, Joanna Jedrzejczyk met with Dana White right after UFC 217 and lined up an April or May return to the Octagon against whoever has the UFC strawweight belt. She’ll be taking two months off and doesn’t care if it is an immediate rematch with Rose Namajunas or not, it’s just whoever has the belt.

Justin Golightly - November 8, 2017

Fans and media weren’t the only ones shocked and celebrating Rose Namajunas putting on her incredible, belt-stealing performance against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217. Former title challenger Jessica Andrade compared her division’s reaction to a World Cup win. In a recent interview, she broke down how Namajunas did the unthinkable and wasted no time at all calling out the new champion. Things just got really interesting at women’s strawweight. “[Joanna Jedrzejczyk] definitely underestimated [Rose] Namajunas. She got in there as it was just another fight, that it would be easy. She was more aggressive, but she forgot that Namajunas is taller than her previous opponents, like me and Claudia [Gadelha], and has a bigger reach. That’s how Namajunas found the opening. Namajunas trained for that and did a great job. I was rooting for Namajunas to win. When I saw her going down the first time, I said ‘damn, this will be good.’ When Namajunas dropped her the second time and knocked her out, I said ‘I can’t believe it.’ It was like a World Cup game, you know? Everybody screaming and celebrating because it’s easier now for the division to move and we have another opportunity to fight for the belt again.”

Russell Ess - November 8, 2017

Rose Namajunas was stone cold leading up to UFC 217 where she was a big underdog going up against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who was looking for her sixth straight title defense. Nothing seemed to have gotten Namajunas off her focused mindset, not even Jedrzejczyk placing her fist on “Thug’s” face during their staredown days before their fight.

Justin Golightly - November 7, 2017

Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the build-up to a fight is usually just as frightening as she is inside the cage, but things got especially nasty during the build-up of UFC 217. It was a startling contrast between the way Rose Namajunas handled the situation. Amidst the chaos and whatever happened behind the scenes with Pat Barry, we could see things play out in the staredown: Jedrzejczyk detailing all the violent things she told Namajunas to her face, while Rose just stood there and stood like Fedor Emelianenko. Despite all of this and the shocking result on Saurday, Joanna Jedrzejczyk paid her respect to the new strawweight champion afterwards. “[Joanna Jedrzejczyk] came up and congratulated me after [the fight at UFC 217] and said all the best. You know, that’s that really. This is a job. I had a job to do. I couldn’t get emotional about it. Of course, I don’t agree with her getting all personal and stuff. That’s not my style, but that’s what she’s got to do to feel comfortable to get in that cage. That’s what she’s gotta’ do. I just expected it, so I’m not going to attach no feelings to it.”

Russell Ess - November 6, 2017

I am so proud of you @rosenamajunas A post shared by Justin Gaethje 🇺🇸 (@justin_gaethje) on Nov 4, 2017 at 8:30pm PDT

Chris Taylor - November 5, 2017

Rose Namajunas shocked the mixed martial arts world last night in New York by scoring a first-round knockout victory over Joanna Jedrzejczyk to claim the UFC strawweight title at Madison Square Garden. Following her jaw dropping victory, “Thug Rose” took to the podium at the UFC 217 post-fight press conference where she discussed her title-earning victory.

Tom Taylor - November 5, 2017

Last night in the first of three title fights on the stacked UFC 217 bill, Rose Namajunas stepped into the cage with the seemingly unstoppable Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Despite being one of the bigger underdogs on the card, Namajunas came through in the biggest way possible, knocking the champ out in the very first round. Here’s how Namajunas’ fellow pros reacted to her incredible first-round title win!