Rose Namajunas News

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!

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

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

Russell Ess - November 2, 2017

The UFC 217 pre-fight press conference took place on Thursday ahead of the stacked fight card taking place this weekend at the Madison Square Garden in New York. UFC 217 features three title fights. UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping will take on Georges St-Pierre in the former welterweight champion’s first fight back since 2013. UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt faces former teammate and former champion TJ Dillashaw and UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk looks to tie Ronda Rousey‘s UFC record for most consecutive female title defenses against Rose Namajunas.