There have been moments in the career of Rose Namajunas where she has looked like not only one of the best mixed martial artists on the planet, but a stone-cold lock to be immortalized as one of the best to ever do it inside the UFC Octagon.
There have also been times, however, where the two-time strawweight champion and former Ultimate Fighter finalist has appeared unsure of herself, her approach, and whether she wants to be competing at that very moment.
On the eve of her return to action tomorrow against Amanda Ribas in Las Vegas, let’s try to work through the twists and turns in the career of “Thug” Rose Namajunas and make sense of one of the sport’s most mercurial talents.
EARLY FLASHES
It was pretty evident to anyone watching the early stages of Namajunas’ career that the Milwaukee native had a wealth of upside.
A life-long martial artist with a willingness to take risks, she won her second pro bout with a flying armbar at Invicta FC 5, which immediately (and understandably) became her calling card her star began to rise. She was selected to compete on Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter, which serves as the large-scale introduction of the strawweight division in the UFC and would play out, for the first time, as a seeded tournament, with the winner becoming the inaugural champion.
The seventh seed, Namajunas submitted Alex Chambers in her opening round assignment, tapped No. 2 seed Joanne Calderwood in the quarters, and the season’s Cinderella, No. 14 seed Randa Markos in the semifinals, setting up a clash with top seed and former Invicta champ Carla Esparza for the vacant title. Her inexperience shone through in the contest, with the more seasoned, more established Esparza leaning on her grappling and ultimately submitting Namajunas in the third round to earn the victory.
Despite the loss and owning just a 2-2 record as a professional, it was clear Namajunas was going to be a factor in the strawweight division as she continued to gain experience; she was too competitive, creative, skilled to languish as a .500 fighter in a relatively shallow division.
EMERGING CONTENDER
The UFC identified Namajunas as a potential star during her time on TUF, unfairly comparing her to then bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey during her run in the house.
After earning a submission win over fellow TUF 20 cast member Angela Hill at UFC 192 in Houston, she was booked into her first main event assignment opposite Paige VanZant, another young, promising talent with superstar potential. Prior to the contest, Namajunas shaved her
head, donning her now signature buzzcut for the first time, before mauling VanZant and choking her out in the fifth round to secure her second straight UFC victory.
Four months later, the rising star avenged the first loss of her career, scoring a unanimous decision win over another TUF 20 alum, Tecia Torres, setting up a No. 1 contender bout with unbeaten Polish standout Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Namajunas landed on the wrong side of a split decision verdict, but just as her loss to Esparza didn’t diminish her standing as an elite prospect, losing to the surging Pole didn’t knock her out of the title mix either; it simply showed once again that there were small adjustments she needed to make in order to close the gap between herself and the apex talents in the division.
While some gave up their seats on the bandwagon, most recognized that Namajunas was still tremendously young — she had turned 24 a couple weeks prior to her loss at UFC 201 — and had made significant strides in her three-and-a-half years as a professional mixed martial artist. Nine months later, she stormed back into the Octagon and put on an absolute clinic against Michelle Waterson, running through the popular New Mexico product to re-establish herself as one of the top contenders in the 115-pound ranks.
CHAMPIONSHIP ERA
Esparza became the inaugural strawweight champion by defeating Namajunas to close out Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter, but the first true ruler of the division emerged three months later.
Heading into her clash with Esparza at UFC 185, unbeaten challenger Joanna Jedrzejczyk told reporters struggling to learn the proper pronunciation of her last name not to bother, as after she was done with Esparza, they could simply refer to her as “Joanna Champion” instead. She promptly beat the brakes off of her to claim the title before posting consecutive successful title defenses against Jessica Penne, Valerie Letourneau, Claudia Gadelha, Kowalkiewicz, and Jessica Andrade.
In a way, Namajunas landing as the top challenger for the title heading into UFC 217 was almost a process of elimination, as Jedrzejczyk had already dismissed the top three contenders in the division, and no one else was able to get passed those women either, resulting in the 25-year-old landing opposite the Polish punisher at Madison Square Garden on November 4, 2017.
Less than three minutes into the contest, Namajunas dropped Jedrzejczyk for the second time, and while the champion was able to defend and scurry to her feet following the initial knockdown, that wouldn’t happen the second time around. A left hook dropped her and clubbing blows sealed the deal, elevating Namajunas to the strawweight throne.
The pair would run it back five months later in Brooklyn — the felled longtime champion getting her immediate rematch — and though it was a much more competitive, five-round affair, the outcome was ultimately the same. Namajunas retained the title, earning 49-46 scores from all three judges to wrap up a massive victory following a chaotic week leading into UFC 217.
She spent the remainder of the year recovering from a pair of issues: the trauma sustained from being on the bus Conor McGregor attacked in the bowels of the Barclay’s Center ahead of UFC 217 and a compression fracture in her back, returning to action 10 months after retaining her title in her second straight bout with Jedrzejczyk.
Venturing to Brazil to defend the belt against Andrade, who had picked off Gadelha, Torres, and Kowalkiewicz following her loss to Jedrzejczyk, Namajunas started well, using her speed and range to snipe at the diminutive marauder, denying her the ability to get inside where her powerful attacks would work best. Midway through the second round, however, the challenger found a way in close, elevated the champion into the air and deposited her on her head, knocking Namajunas unconscious as she crashed into the mat and bringing her title reign to an instant, thudding halt.
It would be more than a year before the former champion returned to action, and when she did, it was once again an immediate rematch, only this time, Andrade no longer held the title.
The Brazilian made a quick turnaround after winning the belt, following Namajunas’ lead of defending on the road, only to get blitzed 42 seconds into her clash with Zhang Weili in Shenzhen, China, dropping the title to the Chinese standout. Namajnuas welcomed her back to the realm of challengers and earned a measure of revenge, securing a unanimous decision victory in a rare three-round bout to once again put herself in a position to fight for the title.
Zhang had cemented her standing as the top competitor in the division by successfully defending her title against Jedrzejczyk in what remains the greatest women’s MMA fight of all time at UFC 248 in March 2020, just a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down. She wouldn’t fight again until the following April when she defended the title against Namajunas in Jacksonville at UFC 261, and the game of musical chairs atop the division continued.
Just 78 seconds into the fight, Namajunas floored Zhang with a left high kick that she never saw coming, becoming the first two-time champion in the division’s history. As had been tradition, she faced the felled titleholder for a second straight time seven months later, edging out a split decision victory to retain the belt and solidify her standing atop the division, setting up one more rematch.
A CONFUSING PERFORMANCE
More than seven years after their first encounter, Namajunas faced off with Esparza for a second time, entering this time as the reigning strawweight titleholder and a considerable favorite.
Esparza had forced her way into a championship opportunity, cobbling together a five-fight winning streak with a series of narrow decision wins capped by a second-round mauling of Yan Xiaonan that left her as the logical challenger to her former TUF 20 housemate. On paper, it was a classic “striker vs. grappler” battle, one many anticipated Namajunas would win by utilizing her footwork and superior boxing.
What transpired at UFC 274 was one of the more confusing and action-less bouts in UFC history: a 25-minute contest where the two combined — combined — to land 67 significant strikes in total, with neither landing more than 13 in any given round. For the most part, the circled one another, hesitant to truly engage, with Namajunas darting in just a touch more often than Esparza, while the challenger didn’t even really press for takedowns or clinch situations all that much either.
Compounding things was the fact that between rounds, Namajunas’ chief corner, her partner Pat Barry, praised her efforts, telling her to stick to what she was doing, while her boxing coach, Trevor Wittman, seemed a little more intent on getting her to pick up the pace and output.
Namajunas kept doing what she was doing, the fight creeped along to the final horn, and Esparza claimed a split decision win, knocking Namajunas from her perch atop the division and becoming the second two-time champion in the division’s history.
MOVING UP
Namajunas’ next fight would come 16 months later in Paris, as she moved up to flyweight to face French contender Manon Fiorot.
Looking slightly undersized against the aptly nicknamed “Beast,” Namajunas dropped a unanimous decision, winning the third round on two of the three scorecards while giving a reasonable accounting of herself in her new surroundings. While she didn’t look out of place, she also didn’t look like the dynamic talent that twice scaled the strawweight mountain to claim championship gold, prompting many to ponder what her future may hold.
A preliminary answer comes this weekend, as she faces off with Ribas in a five-round flyweight clash that will have a significant impact on the hierarchy in the 125-pound ranks regardless of who emerges victorious. Stylistically, it’s a solid matchup for Namajunas, who should have a striking advantage against the tenacious Brazilian, but Ribas is game and can snatch up submissions if she makes any mistakes too.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
Namajunas is one of those fighters whose has already cemented part of their legacy and is revered for their skills despite having a somewhat pedestrian record, as she’s just 9-5 in the UFC.
Of course, she’s spent the entirety of her career facing top contenders and three of those losses came in championship bouts, but still: when you think of iconic talents and fighters that have achieved the things she’s achieved, don’t you expect the record to be a little more than 9-5 after nine years and change in the promotion?
By comparison, Charles Oliveira, who beat Jeremy Stephens in the co-main event the night of Namajunas’ UFC debut, has gone 15-5 during that same span, and he too has largely competed against top talents, doing so across two divisions.
The other piece of it — at least for me — is that we known from Namajunas herself that her passion for competing waxes and wanes, and seeing her take more than a year off following the anticlimactic title loss to Esparza at UFC 274 was a red flag for me. While she looked okay in her flyweight debut, it doesn’t feel like the right division for her, because as much as Fiorot is big for the division, she’s not the only physically strong, dangerous talent towards the top of the division.
Could Namajunas use her ring craft and experience to get by some of the names in front of her in the pecking order, including Ribas this weekend? Absolutely, but after consecutive losses and without a victory since November 202, she’s reached the “gonna have to see it first” stage for me.
It’s never been a question of skill with the former champion, but rather a matter of drive and desire.
She’s turned in some amazing performances and accomplished more than most during her career… there have also been a couple duds too, and leaves me constantly questioning whether we’re ever going to see her dial things up again.
Her flyweight adventure feels a little like Frankie Edgar venturing to featherweight and then bantamweight after his days in the lightweight title mix ran their course; like she’s looking to use previous successes and star status to expedite a push to into title contention in another weight class.
Edgar got an immediate shot at ’45, and then stayed competitive enough to land two more kicks at the can before dropping to ’35 and coming up short there, but Namajunas stumbled out of the flyweight gate, and now her hopes of climbing the ladder hinge on Saturday’s fight with Ribas.
A win gets her moving in the right direction again and provides hope that a new chapter could be in the offing, but another loss would likely close the door on those dreams.
Talent-wise, Namajunas is still elite, and capable of beating just about anyone on any given Saturday, but now we have to see if the competitive fires have been rekindled and if the woman that repeats “I’m the best” as she walks to the Octagon believes that and is able to prove it this weekend.
