Just nu tänker inte Rose Namajunas (11-5) på att fightas. Hon funderar dock på att ta ett stort beslut gällande sin karriär.
Rose Namajunas kommer vara borta ett tag från tävlandet
Namajunas fightades senast vid UFC 274 i maj när hon förlorade via delat domslut mot Carla Esparza och miste därmed sin stråviktstitel. Den dåvarande tvåfaldiga mästarinnan gick in i buren med planen att kliva undan från tävlandet under en längre tid.
Efter förlusten siktar amerikanskan nu på nya utmaningar inom MMA samt att bygga sig större i gymmet. Hon sade följande i en intervju med MMA Fighting:
Win or lose, going into the last fight, I knew I was going to take some time off. I knew I was going to at least take the summer off. I’ll say around September, I’ll know exactly what I’ll be doing. I have been training a little bit, but not super consistent. I did have this little shoulder issue that I’ve been trying to rehab, and there was this girl Isis [Verbeek] who just won her Invicta fight that came into town so I got to train with her a little bit, just some little stuff trying to stay active so I’m not on the couch completely.
The thing I do know for a fact — and I don’t know when exactly I might fight again — but I do know that I want to do a grappling match of some sort. I want to really rack up some experience in that department. Also, once I get my other things in order, my life stuff, I’ll be lifting lots of weights, and maybe put on a little more muscle, and just kind of see what happens from there.
Kan gå upp till flugvikt
När Rose Namajunas tillfrågades om detta innebar en flytt upp till flugvikt så ville dock inte Namajunas lova draget fullt ut men hon räknar bort inte det:
I don’t know, you can do the math. I really don’t know, like I said, just one step at a time. The UFC has given me some offers for things and I just need the time to just not think about fighting at all, and then in the fall I’ll kind of lay out everything to see what makes sense.
Definitely I’m interested in grappling in the near future. Whoever is out there that I can challenge — and I want to get good at foot locks because that’s big now, and it’s come circle because people know how to defend them so it’s more of a complete thing again. But I kind of want to dive deep into the grappling world, then work my way back.
Möjligt att möta Valentina Shevchenko trots vänskapen
Om det blir en flytt upp till flugvikt så är Valentina Shevchenko den nuvarande mästaren. Då UFC gillar att boka de största möjliga matcherna skulle en fight mellan Shevchenko och Namajunas vara möjlig.
Namajunas erkänner att hon skulle tänka efter om hon fick möjligheten detta på grund av vänskapen mellan damerna. MMA-fightern i henne kan dock inte låta bli att lockas av idén om rätt saker står på spel.
I love Valentina. In my opinion, and I always forget that Amanda Nunes is the women’s GOAT of MMA, but Valentina, if she keeps doing what she’s doing, you could make that case [for her] as well. I do consider myself to be Valentina’s friend, so in order for me to do that, we would have to be set up, not for life, but it would have to be for a very good reason for me to even want to step to her.
She is amazing in all ways, and I have felt what she feels like in practice. I know a fight is a totally different thing, so that would be hard for me to say. Obviously, as a martial artist, that would definitely be very interesting. But, yeah, I don’t know yet. It would have to be [very lucrative]. I love Valentina. I consider her to be my friend. I’ve never had a problem with being cordial with people I’m going to fight. I’ve maintained friendships with people that I’ve fought, but I’ve never had an issue with fighting a teammate or anything like that. I have started to think a little bit differently about fighting at this point in my life.
It would be difficult with the emotions and things like that, and I feel like I’m a different person right now. I would have to think about it.
