While she has managed to endure it mentally, Rose Namajunas believes cutting down to strawweight is no longer healthy for her body.
Namajunas (11-6) made her flyweight debut in September 2023, coming up on the short side of a unanimous decision against top contender Manon Fiorot. “Thug” is slated to make her sophomore flyweight appearance this Saturday against Amanda Ribas (12-4) in the main event at UFC on ESPN 53.
Going into the matchup, Namajunas feels healthier not being bogged down by the additional turmoil of a strawweight cut. Along with an increased confidence in absorbing head strikes, Namajunas also believes her punches have gotten harder with the extra weight.
“My body is feeling great,” Namajunas said at UFC Media Day. “I definitely put on more muscle for this fight. I’m around the same size as I was last time but I’m just more filled in and more dense. So yeah, muscles are recovering, definitely was a very intense training camp but yeah, injury-free and healthy. Immune system is super strong. I think some of those weight cuts before taxed my immune system a little bit sometimes so I’m very thankful for the health.
“I mean sometimes a weight cut when it is a tough weight cut, it’s kind of a distraction from the fight itself. Cause it’s like, ‘Oh, this is a fight before the fight.’ But you’re right, it’s a lot more enjoyable to eat food and not [be] fixated on it so much. Overall I just feel more confident in being able to take head strikes. Obviously, my defense is going to be on point but you know if something happens I know my brain’s not as dehydrated. I feel like that contributes to a lot of brain damage when you’re dehydrating your brain and then getting punched… I feel more confidence in throwing harder too. I would say I have been throwing a lot harder punches now.”
The former two-time strawweight queen is looking to earn a strap in another division, although she doesn’t necessarily plan on holding two belts simultaneously. Moving back down to strawweight is most likely not an option for Namajunas moving forward.
“I just think like health-wise, it’s just not a healthy thing to do for me at this point,” said Namajunas. “I know that I can keep pushing through it. Like 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 it’s kind of hard to see myself like that. So even though the will gets stronger, the flesh gets weaker. I’m all about health and wellness even though we are about to go and fight. But I want to preserve as much as possible.”
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