Rose Namajunas details string of horrific nightmares ahead of UFC Vegas 89 return: ‘I had to fight a dude’

Rose Namajunas details nightmares ahead of UFC Vegas 89 I had to fight a dudeRose Namajunas says she usually visualizes her fights, and often times it happens while she is sleeping, but before…

Rose Namajunas details nightmares ahead of UFC Vegas 89 I had to fight a dude

Rose Namajunas says she usually visualizes her fights, and often times it happens while she is sleeping, but before her UFC Vegas 89 main event scrap against Amanda Ribas, she was plagued by nightmares.

Namajunas was looking to avoid the first three-fight losing streak of her career as she was facing Ribas in her second fight at flyweight. Although Namajunas was the betting favorite to win, but she says leading up to the fight, she had nightmares over it as she vividly saw her lose three times.

Thug Rose UFC
Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger – Zuffa LLC

“Leading up to the fight, too, I have really vivid dreams a lot of the time,” Rose Namajunas said on The MMA Hour. “Sometimes I’ll be able to visualize the fight, and for this one, I never had this happen before, but I literally saw in my dreams I lost the fight three times. ‘

“The first two times, there was unfair circumstances. One, I got robbed, and then the first time it was like — this sounds crazy, but I was supposed to go fight her and then at the last second they switched it to a dude. So I had to fight a dude and then I was getting beat up, and then all of a sudden I ended up falling into a rear-naked choke and finishing the person, but they still gave it to them. So that was weird. I was like, that doesn’t make any sense.

“The third dream that I had — nightmare, I should say — I had the feeling that I lost but I don’t remember what happened in the fight and I was just trying to piece it together. It was just that post-loss feeling in the locker room, where it just sucks. I was like, ‘Did I get knocked out? Did I get choked out? What happened?’”

“So that was weighing on me a bunch leading into it. I feel like I’ve got divine visions in my dreams a lot of the time, but I’ve also had spiritual attacks in my dreams too, so I had to discern what was real and what wasn’t. I had to keep telling myself, ‘That has no bearing. I’m just going to do it anyways and it has no bearing on the outcome,’” Namajunas continued.

Thug Rose UFC
Mandatory Credit: Chris Unger – Zuffa LLC

Ultimately, Rose Namajunas was able to get the win as she beat Amanda Ribas by decision to return to the win column in a big way at UFC Vegas 89.

Rose Namajunas calls out Maycee Barber

Following Rose Namajunas’ win over Amanda Ribas, the former strawweight champion called out Maycee Barber.

Barber is currently ranked fourth at flyweight and coming off a decision win over Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 299. A fight against Namajunas does make sense as the winner could get a title shot at 125lbs.

Namajunas also has full confidence she can become champion at flyweight and hold titles in two different weight classes in the UFC.

Rose Namajunas scores first flyweight win with dominant performance against Amanda Ribas – UFC Vegas 89 Highlights

Rose Namajunas‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas got her first win at flyweight on Saturday night, besting top-ten-ranked contender Amanda Ribas in an…

Rose Namajunas

‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas got her first win at flyweight on Saturday night, besting top-ten-ranked contender Amanda Ribas in an entertaining back-and-forth scrap at UFC Vegas 89.

After coming up short against Manon Fiorot in her 125-pound debut, Namajunas looked as sharp as ever throughout her 25-minute affair with the Brazilian beauty. Ribas undeniably held her own in her first-ever UFC main event, but her continued reliance on spinning attacks made her offense predictable enough for Namajunas to sit on the outside and use her speed to get in and get out quickly.

The biggest difference-maker on the night was Namajunas’ control time which eclipsed more than six minutes through the five-round bout.

Rose Namajunas vs. Amanda Ribas

Official Result: Rose Namajunas def. Amanda Ribas via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)

With the win, Namajunas should find herself ranked in the flyweight division’s top 10 come Monday morning. Overall, she improved to 9-5 inside the Octagon, 11-6 overall. As for what comes next, the former two-time strawweight champion will have an eye on next week’s clash between Erin Blanchfield and Manon Fiorot in Atlantic City.

Check Out Highlights From Rose Namajunas vs. Amanda Ribas at UFC Vegas 89:

Rose Namajunas plans duel title wins after UFC Vegas 89 return: ‘Becoming two division champion would be awesome’

Rose Namajunas plans two division title reign this year ahead of UFC Vegas 89 comebackFormer UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is looking to become a two-division champion in the promotion. Namajunas is a…

Rose Namajunas plans two division title reign this year ahead of UFC Vegas 89 comeback

Former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is looking to become a two-division champion in the promotion.

Namajunas is a two-time strawweight champion and is set to remain at women’s flyweight as she takes on Amanda Ribas in the main event of UFC Vegas 89. It’s an intriguing matchup as Namajunas looks to avoid the first ever three-fight losing streak of her career. Although Namajunas is on a losing skid, Rose Namajunas is confident she still can become a champion, and hopes to win the flyweight title this year.

Rose Namajunas' move to flyweight questioned it's the craziest thing I've ever seen UFC Paris
Mandatory Credit: Zuffa LLC

“Becoming two-division champion this year would be awesome,” Namajunas said, speaking at UFC Vegas 89 media day on Wednesday, via MMAFighting. “I know that’s a very steep mountain to climb and I know I had some setbacks, so obviously I’ve got to be realistic, but I do believe that that’s very realistic and God-willing that’s what’s going to happen. I’ve just got to take care of business this weekend and that’s what we’ll do.”

With UFC Vegas 89 being her second fight at women’s flyweight, Rose Namajunas says she feels like she’s really starting to get a solid frame at 125lbs and says she’s healthier than ever.

“My body’s feeling great,” Namajunas said. “I definitely put on more muscle for this fight. I’m around the same size as I was last time, I’m just more filled in, I’m more dense. Muscles are recovering, definitely was an intense training camp, but yeah, injury free and healthy and immune system’s super strong, I think some of those weight cuts before kind of taxed my immune system a little bit sometimes, so I’m very thankful for the health.”

Rose Namajunas Is likely done at strawweight

Entering her UFC Vegas 89 main event, Rose Namajunas is the betting favorite to defeat Amanda Ribas. Should Namajunas get the win, she would be close to a title shot.

Rose Namajunas set to remain sidelined from the UFC

With that, Namajunas says she is focused on fighting at 125lbs and doesn’t think dropping back down to strawweight is healthy for her.

“I just think health-wise, to me, it’s just not a healthy thing to do for me at this point,” Namajunas said of a possible return to strawweight. “I know that I can keep pushing through it. My mind got a lot stronger with cutting the weight, but I could tell my body was definitely not liking that as much.

“I could tell from my last strawweight cut. My eyes were sunken in and now it’s kind of hard to see myself like that. So even though the will gets stronger, the flesh gets weaker, so to me I’m all about health and wellness. Even though we’re about to go and fight, I want to preserve as much as possible,” Namajunas concluded.

Namajunas enters her UFC Vegas 89 main event fight with an 11-6 record and is coming off a decision loss to Manon Fiorot.

Ex-Strawweight champ ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas slams critics claiming she’s too small for flyweight

Namajunas‘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 […]

Namajunas

‘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?”