Dog trouble, car accident and fever stressed Rose Namajunas before UFC on FOX 19

Rose Namajunas picked up arguably the biggest win of her young career when the 23-year-old scored a unanimous decision victory over Tecia Torres at UFC on FOX 19.

The path to victory was not easy, however. Namajunas (5-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) told MMAjunkie Radio her journey during training camp was filled with road bumps, making it the toughest of her career.

“It’s definitely a big moment for myself,” Namajunas said. “I came across so many challenges this time around. This was not a smooth training camp by any means. It was probably one of the least smooth of all. I definitely had a lot of doubt in myself leading up to it. So, for me to be able to get in there and get the win was more than I could ask for.”

The victory in the co-main event of UFC on FOX 19, which took place at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla and aired on FOX following prelims on FOX and UFC Fight Pass, ran Namajunas’ winning streak to three. More importantly, however, may have been Namajunas avenging her July 2013 loss to Torres (7-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at Invicta FC 6.

But, as Namajunas explained, she was almost completely unable to compete at the event.

When pressed for specifics, Namajunas said her issues for the camp ran the gamut from issues with her dog to an infected wisdom tooth that could have kept her out of the fight altogether.

“There were just a lot of things,” Namajunas said. “The list goes on and on and on, like family stuff. On top of that, there was something with my dog. She had an emergency right before the fight. She could have died, she had a 7-centimeter stick up her nose and I had to get her a last minute surgery right before I left. That was stressful as hell. On top of that, my coach’s dog went missing right after we got that taken care of and I love that dog to death, so that was something that would be affecting him while we were out there if he didn’t find her. And also, his wife got in a car accident and totaled their car. On the last day of sparring, he had to skip out right away. He was like, ‘Oh, Kim just got in an accident.’ Everyone is OK, but it could have been really bad, you know?

“It was just one thing after another and fight week came around and my wisdom tooth got infected. I came down with some type of fever and felt like I was passing out every two seconds. Walking out onto the stage to weigh-in, I was about to pass out. I had to sit down for a second. I could barely even stand. I was definitely not feeling the most healthy. I’m sure it was emotions and just stressing myself out because of the doubts I had. I definitely was not healthy, either.”

Check out the full video above.

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 19, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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