Rose Namajunas says she “got what she needed” out of Carla Esparza rematch: “I’m an artist and you don’t always have Mona Lisas”

By Susan Cox - November 3, 2022

Rose Namajunas claims she got what she needed out of the Carla Esparza rematch.

Rose Namajunas, Carla Esparza

Namajunas (11-5 MMA) and Esparza (20-6 MMA) originally met in December of 2014 in the women’s strawweight main event. It was to be Esparza defeating Rose by submission at 1:26 of Round 3. Esparaza became the first strawweight champion in Ultimate Fighting Championship history.

Almost eight years later the two met once again on May 7th at UFC 274. Esparza once again was awarded the victory via split decision, becoming the second two-time champ in the division.

‘Thug Rose’ spoke with ‘MMA Junkie’ and explained that she did indeed get what she needed out of the 2022 rematch with Esparaza saying:

“Yea, I definitely, I got what I needed out of that fight. I know that for the fans if was terrible. I definitely pride myself on being a very exciting fighter and I’ve always had exciting fights.”

Continuing Rose, 30, said:

“But, I realize that being an MMA artist, I am an artist and you don’t always have Mona Lisa’s, sometimes you just have swatches and abstract art pieces.”

“As much as it might have sucked for my fans, for myself, I got the bare minimum I needed out of whatever personal things that I was looking for.”

Concluding the former two-time champion said:

“But, yea, obviously I would have like to have won and won in a dominant fashion.”

“Going forward I feel pretty at piece with it.”

Check out ‘Thug’s comments at the 12:55 mark of the video here.

Rose Namajunas was promoting her film titled, ‘Thug Rose: Mixed Martial Arts’, which is set to be released on November 9th on ‘UFC Fight Pass’.

The question still remains as to who we will see Rose get in the Octagon with next on her quest to regain her championship title.

What do you think of Rose’s reflections concerning her rematch with Carla Esparza?

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