Rose Namajunas could have been the one challenging for the strawweight title Saturday at UFC 248.
Speaking on the “UFC Unfiltered” podcast, former 115-pound champion Namajunas (8-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) said she was offered a title shot against new champ Zhang Weili, but turned it down.
Namajunas lost her title to Jessica Andrade in May 2019. It was a fight in which she was en route to a masterclass showing, but was slammed on her head in Round 2 and lost by knockout.
Just like Yoel Romero and Jose Aldo have upcoming title shots coming off losses, Namajunas would have certainly had an argument, too – and apparently the UFC was on board with the idea.
But Namajunas had her reasons to not take the fight.
“I think everyone else felt the same way, too,” Namajunas said. “I was even offered Weili at the time, but I just – at the time I was still dealing with a lot of my own (things), just getting my head right, and I hired a mental coach that’s helping me do a lot of different things. And so there was a lot of work that needed to be done.
“I wasn’t ready for that just yet. I didn’t even really know if I wanted to fight at that time anymore, just because I wanted to make sure that this is something that I wanted to do and I wasn’t just like, ‘Let’s have another fight just because I’m good at it.’”
The setback to Andrade was a hard pill to swallow for Namajunas, who had a scary fall in her knockout loss. After some time off to reflect, she said she has regained her love for the sport as she gears up for a rematch against Andrade at UFC 249 in Brooklyn.
“It was definitely one of my harder losses that I’ve dealt with,” Namajunas said. “I think the thing is, I knew exactly – it was easier in the sense that I knew exactly all of the things that I did wrong. The harder part is taking responsibility for myself, and yeah, maybe situations around me that I couldn’t control could have been better. But I could have taken control over a lot more things in my life. So ultimately, taking that responsibility is the hardest part out of everything.”
The fall was a cause for concern, considering how she landed on her neck. But, Namajunas is just grateful that no permanent damage has been done.
“I got dropped on my head – I could have been paralyzed. It’s like, ‘Well, I wasn’t paralyzed, so why should I be paralyzed in fear if it didn’t happen?’” Namajunas said. “I should celebrate the fact that I’m walking around and it’s a miracle that my neck feels better than it’s ever felt in the past few years. Prior to that happening, I had a fracture in my neck, so it was hurting a lot – and after that, I feel great.”
