“One of the most boring…” 480 days since UFC’s most controversial matchup, Rose Namajunas finally admits truth about title fight against Carla Esparza

Rose Namajunas has embraced the tough feedback from her previous bout and is prepared to once again astonish everyone in her inaugural Flyweight appearance at UFC Paris.  Since losing her match to Carla Esparza and the women’s strawweight championship, Namajunas has disappeared from everywhere.

After a long hiatus of one and half years, Rose is returning to fight in the co-main event of UFC Paris this weekend against rising French challenger Manon Fiorot. During the press conference, Namajunas finally broke her silence regarding her lackluster fight against Esparza. 

She said: “It’s my job as a martial artist is to go out there and do my job. I did my job, but I definitely could have did a better job, That was definitely one of the most boring fights ever, so …It’s not just a sport for me, it’s art..So, when somebody critiques your art, you get a little emotional. But ultimately, it’s fair to say what they said because it was really … nothing really happened.”

According to ‘Thug Rose’, she underperformed during her fight with Esparza, and as a mixed martial artist, she could understand that it was a boring fight. The fighter also mentioned that all the criticism did hurt her in the beginning but then she grew out of it. 

Related: What is the age difference between Rose Namajunas and boyfriend Pat Barry?

Rose Namajunas comments on fighting in the flyweight division

Rose Namajunas has been fighting in the UFC strawweight division since the beginning of her career in the promotion. She has had a lot of success fighting in the division and has beaten the likes of Paige VanZant, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Jéssica Andrade, Zhang Weili, etc.

However, now she has decided to move up and according to the fighter, it was the right decision as she is growing old. “Earlier on in my career I was maybe a smaller strawweight, you would say,” she said. “And then over time as I’ve matured and my body changed each fight the cut would get bigger and bigger…I never really enjoyed cutting anyways, I never really liked when people did those hugcuts…A little bit is okay. But, I started to see myself going down the [higher weight class] path.” she said.

It seems like Namajunas has put a lot of thought into the process of making this decision. The fighter also mentioned how, in her last weight cut, she didn’t do her best, which affected her performance at UFC 274. It will be interesting to see Namajunas make her flyweight debut and put on an anticipated performance.

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