For Rose Namajunas, UFC 223 turned into ordeal but ended with solidifying champ status

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Rose Namajunas has become known for her candor and openness when talking about her struggles in and outside the octagon, and it wasn’t any different after her first time defending the UFC strawweight title.

If there was any belief that Namajunas’ (8-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) first title win over Joanna Jedrzejczyk (14-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in November was merely a fluke, “Thug” Rose took care of those with her five-round display over the ex-champ Saturday at UFC 223.

But other fight-week events had her questioning whether she’d even make the walkout to Barclays Arena for the pay-per-view co-headliner.

Namajunas was inside the bus that was allegedly attacked by Conor McGregor after a media event on Thursday. UFC President Dana White publicly talked about how she was very shaken up afterward, too. Asked after the fight whether there was ever any consideration to withdraw, Namajunas was honest.

“Yes, I did (think about not fighting),” Namajunas said during a press conference after UFC 223. “I think a lot of times leading up to many fights I think that. Or I’ll doubt myself or I question myself. But the voice was strong this time.”

Injuries stemming from the incident would end up causing two other fights to fall through, with lightweight Michael Chiesa and flyweight Ray Borg hurt by the safety glass shattered by McGregor throwing a dolly, which can be seen on video. It was Namajunas’ window, though, that almost got hit before Chiesa ended up catching the worst of it.

Also present in the bus, MMA manager Alex Davis later talked about how scary the situation seemed at the time – and how particularly distraught Namajunas was by the whole thing. But if anyone believed that maybe stemmed from Namajunas’ lack of familiarity with ugly situations, it’s actually the exact opposite.

“It shook me up just because it was just such a – I didn’t know how far it was going to escalate,” Namajunas said. “All the guys inside, they wanted to fight back, they wanted to go jump out of the bus. But I’m like, ‘I don’t know if they’re going to open the door, and they’re going to all come in.’ They’re obviously not directly after me, but I’m just caught in this scenario, so I don’t know.

“My imagination goes crazy, through all the things I’ve been through in the past. I know that anybody can have a gun or a knife. We don’t know. So, I jumped to the negative pretty quickly. It was a lot of thoughts going into this fight, but I’m just grateful to be in one piece and to be happy, healthy and safe.”

Thankfully, Namajunas decided to move forward with the bout. As a result, a technical, even striking battle between her and Jedrzejczyk took place. After two strong initial rounds, Namajunas faded a bit in the third, and for a while there it seemed a change in momentum was underway.

The champ came back from that, though, doing enough to take a trio of 49-46 scorecards and the unanimous-decision nod. As for what went into making sure that was the case?

“I just kept saying I’m the best,” Namajunas said. “Just kept saying to myself I’m the best. Eventually, I just let go of – just had to accept my feet aren’t moving as well.

“I just kind of abandoned the game plan a little bit and just went out there and had fun and was just like, ‘Screw it, I’m just going to slug instead of trying to be quick right now, because it’s obviously not working.’”

Jedrzejczyk doesn’t necessarily agree with that, but it did work. And the match saw the once-not-so-friendly competitors showing mutual respect. While Namajunas won’t go so far as to pin the outcome of their first encounter entirely on a botched weight cut, as Jedrzejczyk did, Namajunas does acknowledge it might’ve played a role.

The fact that Jedrzejczyk “stepped up her respect” for Namajunas, though, may also have been a part of it.

“She had a lot better range this time,” Namajunas said. “I think her condition was – she just stepped it up. She improved, in general. My hat’s off to her. This entire camp, I was just thinking about how she did it for five times in a row. I have a lot of respect for her.”

As for what’s next, Namajunas doesn’t know for sure. The name of Brazil’s Jessica Andrade, a former title challenger coming off emphatic wins over Tecia Torres and Claudia Gadelha, is on her radar. But then so is that of Karolina Kowalkiewicz, who beat Felice Herrig earlier Saturday for back-to-back wins.

And while Namajunas wouldn’t go so far as to explicitly show preference, she wouldn’t mind getting back that split-decision loss at UFC 201, which would eventually lead Kowalkiewicz to her own failed title bid against Jedrzejczyk.

“I’d definitely like to right that wrong,” Namajunas said. “I think she’s a great competitor, and I have a lot of respect for her, as well. At the same time, there’s a lot of strawweight competitors out there, but she’s definitely one on the list.”

To hear more from Namajunas, check out her full post-fight press conference above.

And for complete coverage of UFC 223, check out the UFC Events section of the site.