Rose Namajunas admits she contemplated retirement after UFC strawweight title loss to Carla Esparza

Rose Namajunas pondered walking away from MMA after losing her belt last May.

Namajunas (11-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC) lost her strawweight belt to Carla Esparza at UFC 274, in what was a dud of a title fight with little to no action. It was an uncharacteristic performance from Namajunas, who has thrilled fans in the past with knockouts of Joanna and Zhang Weili to capture gold.

It’s not the first time former two-time UFC strawweight champion Namajunas has thought about hanging up her gloves, but the time off made her realize that she still has fight left in her.

“I definitely thought I was done for a good amount of time,” Namajunas said on The MMA Hour. “There’s definitely a number of things, but the way that I felt going into the locker room, I just didn’t feel aggressive and I felt like, ‘I don’t really want to hurt anybody.’ So I was like, ‘Yeah, I guess I’m done.’ There were a bunch of other factors that went into it, but it’s obviously not the first time that I questioned whether I should keep doing this or not.

“I already achieved becoming a champion, defending a champion belt, losing it, and then even at that point when I lost it and was on my way to when I decided to rematch (Jessica) Andrade, and I wanted her because I wanted to fix that mistake. I never thought in my mind I was going to make it to the belt again. That was the last thing on my mind.”

Namajunas pointed to the violent aspect of the sport and how she questioned if that part still existed in her after an uneventful loss to Esparza.

“After Carla, there was more than just the feeling of not really wanting to partake in violence,” Namajunas said. “It was a spiritual thing and I just kind of questioned whether or not God wanted me to keep going. Maybe this isn’t part of a Godly life.

“I came back around to like, ‘No, this is definitely what God has called me to do.’ He has special gifts for everybody. Some people are warriors, and some people are creatures. I’ve been gifted with the warrior spirit and something special. I know I don’t have a ton of time left, but I know He’s not finished with me yet in this chapter.”

Namajunas will enter a different chapter in her career when she makes her flyweight debut against top contender Manon Fiorot (10-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) at a UFC Fight Night event on Sept. 2 at Accor Arena in Paris.