There is pushing yourself, then there is pushing yourself to the limit.
Rose Namajunas knows that all too well, as she told the FOX Sports post-fight show after her victory over Tecia Torres at UFC on FOX 19, that she made it a point to push herself to her max during training in order to gear up for he bout.
So much, in fact, that she found herself nearly wanting to throw in the towel altogether.
“This one, I’d say was probably the toughest fight in just build-up, and training camp was the toughest I’ve ever had. There’s been many times I wanted to quit and not show up for my job, but I had to be professional no matter how I felt. I’m just really proud of myself and believing in myself, and I’m really thankful for my coaches (who) really just stuck behind me and made me believe in myself. I was pushing myself to the physical limit everyday. It was really hard for me mentally, though, to give into training and be positive and really just pat myself on the back. I was so hard on myself this training camp, just constantly being negative to the point where I wanted to almost just make myself quit. This was such a mental fight for me, more than anything else, especially with the history we had.”
The win (see it here.) not only helped her even the score with “Tiny Tornado,” but also gave her three wins in a row, including an absolute drubbing of Paige VanZant just last year.
Furthermore, her current streak may have earned her a shot at the Strawweight title against the winner of the upcoming fight between division champion Joanna Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha, which is set for The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale on July 8, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Good thing she didn’t quit.