Rose Namajunas News

Justin Golightly - March 13, 2018

The combat sports universe moves at the speed of light, but even with the infinite treadmill of social media and face-punch dates being booked, it’s hard to forget Rose Namajunas dethroning UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217. The unexpected result was juxtaposed by the former champ’s signature pre-fight scare tactics. …But they didn’t work. Now Jedrzejczyk seeks to take back what’s hers and is righting wrongs along the way. “That night I was not one hundred percent competitor for [Rose Namajunas]. […] I am sure that there will be no negligence before the return from Namajunas. After what happened in November, my eyes and ears are open even wider. I am even more demanding not only to myself, but also to my colleagues, to people, who are creating my team. And at the same time I trust them very much. My ties with coaches Katel Kubis and Mike Brown, ties with sparring partners, as well as with the owner of ATT, have tightened considerably.”

Tom Taylor - March 11, 2018

In the co-main event of UFC 223, which goes down on April 7 in Brooklyn, New York, former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk will get a shot at redemption against the woman who ended her reign: Rose Namajunas. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the winner of this fight is then likely to take on fearsome contender Jessica Andrade. Speaking to Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com this week, Andrade made her prediction for this anticipated strawweight title rematch.

Drake Riggs - February 20, 2018

The absolutely epic film, ‘Thug Rose Champion’ was created by MMA fighter Steven Parsons and chronicles the lead up to the first title bout between the then title challenger, Rose Namajunas and strawweight champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217, the fight itself and the rise of Rose as a champion. Their rematch takes place at UFC 223 on April 7.

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 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.

Tom Taylor - January 23, 2018

Back in November, in the first of three title fights on the UFC 217 bill, seemingly unstoppable UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk stepped into the Octagon with unheralded challenger Rose Namajunas. In a shocking upset, Namajunas put the champ Jedrzejczyk down with a first-round punch, taking the belt for herself in the process. Now, the pair have been pencilled in for a rematch at UFC 223, which goes down on April 7 in Brooklyn, New York. Despite the fact that Namajunas won the first encounter, she has once again been identified as the underdog in this fight.

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)

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.”

Justin Golightly - January 3, 2018

Rose Namajunas pulled off the biggest upset of 2017 and then went back to living her life. She walked in her home, put up her new UFC strawweight title, and admired a tomato she grew. Flashing back to the tense build-up to her fight with Joanna, it was a startling juxtaposition of how two very different warriors deal with their own personal pre-fight process. A fist in her face, she recited the Lord’s Prayer and refrained from escalating or even insulting the former champion. It’s something that she came back to comment on yesterday, stating that it doesn’t make sense for her to finally achieve everything she wanted to become an asshole. “Me saying that this belt don’t mean nothing, it’s not really that it doesn’t mean anything, it’s just it doesn’t mean as much if you’re just an asshole, you know what I mean? Me being the best in the world, it doesn’t mean that much to me if I’m not a good person at the end of the day, if I’m not setting a good example for other people to be better to each other. What’s the point of being the best in the world if you scratch and claw your way to the top and you push everybody down instead of lifting everybody else up with you? I think we’ve been sitting around trying to figure out what’s different [now that I’m champion] and I think that’s what’s different. There’s not really much that has changed.”

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.

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 11, 2017

Before making her return to the UFC, Angela Hill strung together a four-fight win streak and captured the strawweight title in Invicta FC. The last loss she had before leaving the organization was against Rose Namajunas. That was only two years ago, but it’s wild to see how much has changed within that short time. While Hill is still unranked, her plan is to stack some wins together to eventually have a chance to avenge her loss to the new UFC strawweight champion. “I’ve always wanted my rematches, but I wanted to make sure that I was ready when I did have those rematches. You know, everyone’s on the list that I’ve lost to when it comes to that. But I definitely feel like I was a totally different fighter when I did fight [Rose Namajunas]. I was motivated to fight [Joanna Jedrzejczyk] when she was champ. I was hoping that I could work my way up to that. I was already thinking about what I was going to do for the face-off and everything. But now that she’s out of the picture, she’s still going to be around. I’d still love to fight her at some point. Yeah, I’m definitely going for that title run after I feel I’ve got enough wins, and I’ve impressed enough to get a go at [Namajunas].”

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.”

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