‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas‘ move to flyweight has been heavily criticized by a plethora of fighters and fans. You can now add former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson to that ever-growing list.
Despite capturing the strawweight title on two separate occasions and owning two wins over the division’s current queen, Zhang Weili, Rose Namajunas opted to move from 115 to 125 for her long-awaited return at UFC Paris on Saturday. She immediately jumped into the flyweight fire, taking on No. 2 ranked contender Manon Fiorot in the co-main event of the evening.
Namajunas came up short, suffering a unanimous decision defeat with many suggesting that the sheer size difference between the two women played the biggest factor.
“I thought Fiorot was just the bigger fighter and all of her shots had a lot more impact on Rose,” Thomson said on his Weighing In podcast. “I feel like Rose Namajunas is sabotaging her career. Like, what are you doing? She is so talented, and you are considered to be one of the best in the 115-pound division. Why are you going up?
“Maybe it was for one fight — I hope you go back down,” he continued. “You could be the champ again. I mean, if you wanna get motivated, stay motivated, whatever it is. I just feel like she’s sabotaging herself. She doesn’t know how to handle this success or she just doesn’t want to have success around her” (h/t MMA Mania).
Namajunas Snaps Back at Manon Fiorot’s Post-Fight Comments
Rose Namajunas’ UFC Paris opponent, Manon Fiorot, echoed similar sentiments during her post-fight interview.
“I’m pretty sure she wanted to wrestle me, but for her, it’s impossible to take me down,” Fiorot said. “I think it’s not her category. The flyweights are too strong for her.”
With criticism flying at her from every direction, Rose Namajunas snapped back in a video clip shared by her manager.
“I’m not too small for Flyweight — there’s no way,” a fired-up Namajuas claimed. “I dropped her a**. How am I too small? Maybe I had some moments where I was, like, stumbling over, or I wasn’t totally in position. But I’m like, ‘Dude, you felt no stronger than Weili. You felt no stronger than Weili, and I beat her a** twice.’ So shut the f*ck up. I’m not too small for flyweight.
“You can say anything else,” she added. “You can say you beat me on points, okay? But you can’t say I’m too small for flyweight. And you can’t say that I didn’t win a round because I for sure won at least one round if not two. But, that’s up for debate, right?”