It remains to be seen who Rose Najamjunas will fight next, but as the one year, anniversary of her emphatic, championship win approaches, “Thug” is saying all the right things.
This time last year, Namajunas was preparing to battle the then, reigning queen of the UFC’s strawweight division, Joanna Jedrzejczyk. While many people believed Namajunas could present some issues for Jedrzejczyk, the consensus was that the latter’s run as champ would continue. After all, the Polish star had defended the 115 title five times, and Namajunas wasn’t far removed from a split decision loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz.
Well, not only did Namajunas end Jedrzejczyk’s reign, she did so in thrilling and memorable fashion, by taking out the vaunted striker in the opening round. Then, this past April, the two fought again, and while the fight was extremely competitive, Namajunas emerged with the decision win.
Recently the strawweight champ spoke with UFC.com, ahead of the one year, anniversary of her historic win. While discussing her success, and how she’s been handling it, Namajunas said this:
“It’s a thing I’ve seen a lot of fighters have trouble with,” she said. “So I try not to get moved too much by the highs and the lows, because the lows will come, no matter what. So it’s best to treat every moment as it is and accept it for what it is and not make it more or less than that. Enjoy the ride.”
Now, if you’ve followed Namajunas over the years, then these comments probably won’t come as too big of a surprise. Rose has always appeared to be a reserved and humble person, and it looks like that’s continued, even though she’s defeated one of the greatest female fighters to date, twice, and has become a pretty big name.
So what’s next for Namajunas? In terms of her next title defense? While discussing that very question, the 26 year-old said this:
“Even after beating Joanna the second time, the division seemed to be a bit up in the air with no clear contender necessarily,” said Namajunas. “I’ve always had my eye on Jessica Andrade, but let’s just say her last performance definitely changed some things and made a more clear statement about who deserves the next shot. And there’s also other interesting talent at 115. Obviously Tatiana (Suarez) wants to call me out and everybody still thinks that I’m still the same fighter that fought Carla, so that makes an interesting case for me to have something out there where I can not only prove to myself but prove to the rest of the world that I’m truly different and matured and a complete fighter and not the same as I was when I was 22.”
It will be interesting to see who “Thug” faces, but as Namajunas noted, since Andrade is coming off a vicious, KO win over Kowalkiewicz, chances are it will be her.