Rose Namajunas hasn’t had much to say about one of the most infamous incidents in combat sports history – until now.
The-then UFC strawweight champion was scheduled to defend her title in a rematch against Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 223 on April 7, 2018 from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Two days before the event, however, Conor McGregor – enraged the UFC stripped him of the lightweight title and would award the belt to the winner of what was originally scheduled to be a main event between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson – flew in from Ireland with a posse to exact revenge on the perceived slight.
McGregor and his crew attacked a bus carrying Nurmagomedov and several other fighters from UFC 223 media day. Namajunas was among those caught in the crossfire. And in a new UFC series titled “UFC Year of the Fighter: Rose Namajunas,” she explained just how scary it was and how close she came to getting seriously injured.
“It was like an eternity being in that bus, because I had no idea who that was that was attacking us,” Namajunas said. “All of a sudden I see a big ol’ fist kind of bang on my window and then I see one of the security guards grab one of the dudes. I didn’t know it was Conor until a little bit later. When he threw the dolly, the bus was backing up into the elevator spot as he threw it to the window right in front of me. But had the bus not been moving, it would have hit my window.”
The incident was traumatic for Namajunas not just because she narrowly escaped serious injury, but it brought back childhood memories she thought she had long left behind.
“In my head, once I found out it was Conor, I was a little relieved, but I still was on edge,” Namajunas said. “It just took me back to when I was a kid, riding to school through bad neighborhoods on a bus and people throwing (expletive) at our bus. And I’ve never been completely cornered like that. We were just sitting there not in control. So what did I do in that moment? I said the Lord’s prayer again and then it did make me feel a little bit better at that moment, and it got me through that tough moment.
“And everything that was from my childhood, this is what I fought to get out of, and this is like back to stupid street (expletive). I don’t want to be around that any more. That’s what I fought my way out of.”
Although she was shaken up, Namajunas managed to channel the negativity into yet another outstanding performance in the octagon, as she willed her way to victory two nights later over one of the greatest women’s competitors of all time in Jedrzejczyk.
“I came back around it, like, this is also what I’m here for,” Namajunas said. “So I took it as motivation to show the world that’s not gonna stop me.”
To hear more from Namajunas, including her thoughts on the fight itself, watch the video above.
Rose Namajunas opens up on overcoming trauma from Conor McGregor’s vicious bus attack
