UFC: What’s next for Rose Namajunas?

By Kevin Sox

Dethroned UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas may have hinted on retiring following a TKO defeat at the hands of Jessica Andrade in the main event of UFC 237 in Brazil last Saturday night.

The 26-year-old Namajunas (8-4, 5 submissions) was slammed onto the floor by Andrade, who was able to put herslf in a position to carry the now former champion on his shoulders. After the piledrive of a body slam, Andrade threw a couple of hammer fists and led to the referee stopping the contest.

Afterwards, Namajunas said, via MMA Fighting:

“I think what it is is prior to becoming a champ, you put a lot of importance on getting the belt and all that stuff. It is important, but it’s kind of only financially important.”

Namajunas added: “Really, at the end of the day, it’s all about facing your fears and to me, once I realized I’ve become the champ and defending the belt, having the belt itself is– it’s cool, but it doesn’t mean as much as I think people put meaning on it.”

The loss put an end to Namajunas’ three-win streak as UFC champion. The statement is obviously open to various interpretations, and the doors may still be open for a rematch.

“Maybe I’ll get it again, maybe I won’t. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll never do this again. We’ll see,” said Namajunas.

“I definitely know I can beat her. I just have to make sure that I want to and I want to do this.”

On the other hand, Andrade (20-6, 7 KOs, 7 submissions), a known brawler, extended her streak to four wins, following up convincingly her previous win over Karolina Kowalkiwicz during UFC 228.

That makes it back to back Performances of the Night for the 27-year-old Brazilian as she took home an extra $100,000 on Saturday night.