Rose Namajunas hears the noise. The fans questioning her move to flyweight, the critics comparing her current run to her strawweight dominance—she knows all of it but she’s not here to convince anyone. She’s here to fight.
Namajunas built a legacy at 115. She beat Zhang Weili twice. The fighter took out Joanna Jedrzejczyk—twice. She knocked out Jessica Andrade. She held the strawweight belt on two separate occasions and arguably became the greatest strawweight the UFC has ever seen. But after her forgettable loss to Carla Esparza in 2022, she walked away from that division and stepped into something new.
The flyweight run has been a mix of progress and hard lessons. Her debut at 125 saw her drop a decision to Manon Fiorot. Namajunas bounced back with solid wins over Tracy Cortez and Amanda Ribas, showing she still had the sharpness and timing that made her a champion. But her last outing ended in another loss—this time to Erin Blanchfield.
So far, she’s gone 2-2 in her new division. It’s not the highlight reel she once put together, but Namajunas doesn’t see it that way. She’s evolving. She’s pushing through the noise, the doubt, and the constant comparisons to her past.
“I feel great,” Namajunas told UFC.com ahead of her UFC Atlanta co-main event against Miranda Maverick. “Maybe the results haven’t been the same, but I’m not the same. I’m better in so many ways. I’ve matured. I’ve grown. Life has changed and so have I.”
Namajunas isn’t interested in chasing validation from fans stuck in the past. She knows where she’s at—and it’s not just about physical performance anymore. It’s about the mental battles she’s overcome, the spiritual strength she’s gained, and the kind of woman she’s becoming inside and outside the cage.
She’s not eyeing a return to strawweight. She’s not comparing herself to the version of Rose that slept Jedrzejczyk with a single punch. This is a new era for Namajunas, and she’s embracing it fully. Her focus now is Miranda Maverick, UFC Atlanta, and showing the world that she’s still a force, no matter the division.
Namajunas isn’t trying to be the fighter she was. She’s here to become something greater. The journey at flyweight continues and she’s walking it with her head up.
