Rose Namajunas plans duel title wins after UFC Vegas 89 return: 'Becoming two division champion would be awesome'
03/22/2024 01:53 PM
Former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is looking to become a two-division champion in the promotion.
Namajunas is a two-time strawweight champion and is set to remain at women’s flyweight as she takes on Amanda Ribas in the main event of UFC Vegas 89. It’s an intriguing matchup as Namajunas looks to avoid the first ever three-fight losing streak of her career. Although Namajunas is on a losing skid, Rose Namajunas is confident she still can become a champion, and hopes to win the flyweight title this year.
"Becoming two-division champion this year would be awesome," Namajunas said, speaking at UFC Vegas 89 media day on Wednesday, via MMAFighting. "I know that's a very steep mountain to climb and I know I had some setbacks, so obviously I've got to be realistic, but I do believe that that's very realistic and God-willing that's what's going to happen. I've just got to take care of business this weekend and that's what we'll do."
With UFC Vegas 89 being her second fight at women’s flyweight, Rose Namajunas says she feels like she’s really starting to get a solid frame at 125lbs and says she’s healthier than ever.
"My body's feeling great," Namajunas said. "I definitely put on more muscle for this fight. I'm around the same size as I was last time, I'm just more filled in, I'm more dense. Muscles are recovering, definitely was an intense training camp, but yeah, injury free and healthy and immune system's super strong, I think some of those weight cuts before kind of taxed my immune system a little bit sometimes, so I'm very thankful for the health."
Rose Namajunas Is likely done at strawweight
Entering her UFC Vegas 89 main event, Rose Namajunas is the betting favorite to defeat Amanda Ribas. Should Namajunas get the win, she would be close to a title shot.
With that, Namajunas says she is focused on fighting at 125lbs and doesn’t think dropping back down to strawweight is healthy for her.
"I just think health-wise, to me, it's just not a healthy thing to do for me at this point," Namajunas said of a possible return to strawweight. "I know that I can keep pushing through it. My mind got a lot stronger with cutting the weight, but I could tell my body was definitely not liking that as much.
"I could tell from my last strawweight cut. My eyes were sunken in and now it's kind of hard to see myself like that. So even though the will gets stronger, the flesh gets weaker, so to me I'm all about health and wellness. Even though we're about to go and fight, I want to preserve as much as possible,” Namajunas concluded.
Namajunas enters her UFC Vegas 89 main event fight with an 11-6 record and is coming off a decision loss to Manon Fiorot.
