Rose Namajunas reveals just how close she was to pulling out of UFC 223 after getting stuck in the middle of Conor McGregor’s rampage.
Conor McGregor’s bus attack leading up to UFC 223 caused a lot of damage to the card, but it could have been much worse if women’s strawweight champ Rose Namajunas had ended up pulling out of her fight over it. While several of the other Dagestani and Polish fighters saw the sudden explosion of heavy metal and flying glass as just another day, word from Dana White was that Namajunas was seriously shook up by the event.
”Yeah it was a bit of an adrenaline dump because I wasn’t sure if I was going to have to fight off 20 dudes or a chair coming at my face,” she said on the UFC 223 post-show. “So I felt like I had a fight before the fight.”
She elaborated on the incident at the post event press conference, admitting she considered withdrawing from UFC 223.
”Yeah, I did,” Namajunas admitted. “But I think a lot of times leading up to many fights I’ll question that. I’ll doubt myself or I’ll question myself, but the voice was strong this time.”
”The chair nearly came at my window,” she continued. “Thankfully to the bus driver he was on point. He was backing up the bus as it came to my window but it ended up hitting Michael Chiesa in the head instead unfortunately. So thanks Michael!”
”It shook me up because I didn’t how far it was going to escalate. All the guys inside wanted to fight back and jump out of the bus but I don’t know if they are going to open the door and all come in. They are obviously not directly after me but I’m caught in this scenario.”
”My imagination goes crazy through all the things I’ve been through in the past. I know anyone could have had a gun or a knife. I jump to the negative pretty quickly. It was a lot of thoughts going into this fight but I’m grateful to be in one piece and be happy, healthy and safe.”
Fortunately, Namajunas pushed through any doubts she had immediately after the incident and stayed in championship form, beating Joanna Jedrzejczyk on the scorecards at UFC 223 to retain her title.