Rose Namajunas is in a great place.
Namajunas, the former UFC strawweight champion, has regained her love for MMA and is confident she will return to her winning ways.
She took some personal time off after losing her title to Jessica Andrade last May and withdrew from their scheduled rematch at UFC 249 after two deaths in her family related to COVID-19.
The rematch has been rebooked for July 11 at UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi, where Namajunas will get an opportunity to avenge her loss.
Namajunas (8-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) was in the middle of a striking masterclass in her first meeting with Andrade last year before she was slammed and knocked out in the second round.
The disappointment for Namajunas is that the finish came after an impressive Round 1 in which she displayed superior speed and movement, peppering Andrade with slick combinations.
“My striking did feel really good, but I think just based off of the way that I felt – like maybe not just visually, like looking at it but comparatively and from the outside – but the way that I felt as a fighter, I felt the best when I fought Joanna the first time,” Namajunas told ESPN.
Namajunas’ priorities are back in place, and she is back to her championship-winning mentality that has resulted in numerous great showings.
“Based on my training and based on just my mentality and where everything is kind of led up to this point, it’s definitely the makings of a spectacular performance and hopefully the best performance yet,” Namajunas said. “I mean, my skill and my abilities and even just the control over myself has been the best it’s ever been this whole training camp. So, yeah, I’m looking forward to performing.”
Namajunas admits that the idea of getting even with Andrade (20-7 MMA, 11-5 UFC) was initially on her mind, but she eventually put the loss behind her.
“To me, it don’t matter,” Namajunas said. “Fight her, fight Weili, fight Tatiana. Obviously I do want to beat Andrade and correct that mistake, but honestly I’ve put that in the past. At one point, I was like, ‘I’m gonna get this, I’m gonna get this back.’ But to me it’s just a fight now.”
