Rose Namajunas News

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

Chris Taylor - November 5, 2017

Rose Namajunas earned a shocking first-round KO victory over Joanna Jedrzejczyk last night at UFC 217 thus earning the promotions coveted strawweight championship. Rose’s victory at Madison Square Garden was nothing short of flawless and earned “Thug” a ton of praise from her peers on social media.

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.

Chris Taylor - November 4, 2017

Joanna Jedrzejczyk relinquished her UFC strawweight title in shocking fashion at tonight’s UFC 217 event in New York, suffering a first-round knockout loss to Rose Namajunas. Jedrzejczyk appeared at tonight’s UFC 217 post-fight press conference where she discussed the first ever setback of her professional mixed martial arts career.

Chris Taylor - November 4, 2017

A women’s strawweight title fight between Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Rose Namajunas took place during tonight’s UFC 217 main card in New York. Round one begins and Rose lands a good low kick to start. Jedrzejczyk fires back with a left hand. Rose counters with a right. Namajunas seems to be very comfortable early. Joanna fires off a nice combination. Rose avoids any significant strikes and then drops Joanna with a right hand. She jumps on her and immediately and moves to mount. Joanna is taking some shots but works her way back to her feet. Joanna gets free and circles out. Rose catches her with a right hand and drops her to the floor. Rose jumps on Joanna and forces her to tapout to strikes! WOW!

Justin Golightly - November 4, 2017

Pat Barry is currently in hiding. pic.twitter.com/5uHPL1WCfU — caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) November 4, 2017

Justin Golightly - November 4, 2017

A match-up that threatens to steal the show tonight at the extremely stacked UFC 217 is Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s title defense against Rose Namajunas. It speaks to Jedrzejczyk’s presence and dominance in the sport that, among a name like Georges St-Pierre and one of the best fights on paper ever between Cody Garbrant and TJ Dillashaw, she holds her own. The combination of her skills and aura have written Namajunas off as someone who is a good fighter, but just not enough. MMA fighters as well as some prominent professionals in the business seem to agree. “Man, Joanna [Jedrzejczyk]. She’s a beast. I don’t see anybody in that division taking that title away from her, man. I wouldn’t want to step into the Octagon with her even though she’s like, what, 115lbs? She does work, man. I would not want to step out there with her. Great striking, great muay thai, good movement, good takedown defense, and she’s just a better all-around fighter than her opponent [Rose Namajunas].” — Stephen Thompson

Justin Golightly - October 25, 2017

As if we needed to have November 4th’s stacked UFC 217 card sold to us, we’re just a couple of weeks away and the promotional engines are firing on all cylinders. Cody Garbrandt just probably had his best verbal performance of his career and is convincing us all a fight with Demetrious Johnson is next. Meanwhile, Joanna Jedrzejczyk is cutting at Rose Namajunas deep on the UFC 217 conference call, but was it too harsh? “Hey, listen to yourself, you didn’t want to do media, you didn’t want to do extra media — how are you going to be a champion and deal with all the things? You know what, you are not strong mentally. You are mentally unstable and you are broken already and I will break you in the fight. This country’s been amazing to me. I think that you have some personal problems, and I will show you what’s your problem, OK? You’re never going to be a champion.” — Joanna Jedrzejczyk on today’s UFC 217 conference call. 

Justin Golightly - October 21, 2017

After putting her entire division on notice with an intense interview, Joanna Jedrzejczyk seems to be at the height of her confidence coming into her fight with Rose Namajunas in November. The title challenger won’t be moved though, even during their chilling staredown, Namajunas didn’t move an inch. She’s said she will not be one of Jedrzejczyk’s many opponents who lose before they even step into the cage. That won’t stop the UFC strawweight champion from trying though. Check out these murderous elbows and Jedrzejczyk’s next message to her opponent. New York City ‼️ Are You Ready ⁉️ @katelkubis & @mikebrownmma #strawweightqueen #joannachampion #joannajedrzejczyk #ufc217 #AndStill #ChampCamp #ATTnation