Rose Namajunas got back on the winning track Saturday night when she took a decision win over Miranda Maverick at UFC Atlanta. It wasn’t one-sided, but it was clear at the end of the fight that “Thug Rose” had done enough with her superior striking to deserve the nod.
So what’s next for Namajunas, who is a former two-time strawweight champion and one of the most popular women’s fighters in the sport? Rose had clearly thought about that answer a lot prior to being asked during the post-fight press conference.
“Before this fight, I was looking at Viviane [Araujo], but she’s matched up with Tracy [Cortez],” Namajunas said. “I just fought Erin [Blanchfield], so that wouldn’t make sense. They probably wouldn’t wanna do that. There’s Natalia [Silva], there’s Alexa Grasso. Any of those girls, anybody that’s in the top five or whatever.”
“If something crazy happens and I’m deserving of a title shot, I’d love that as well. But I want to be deserving, so whatever it takes to get that.
It would take a lot of crazy for a title shot to fall into Rose’s lap. She’s 3-2 over her last 5 and lost to Erin Blanchfield in her last fight. So realistically, she’s gonna have to string another win onto this performance in Atlanta before being seriously considered for title contention.
That’s cool, though. Namajunas sounds focused on fighting Grasso or Araujo.
“I think Alexa Grasso would probably be stylistically a little bit better for me,” Namajunas said. “I think Natalia, her speed is very tricky and she sustains it for a very long time. She would be more of a trickier fight. Alexa has the experience in terms of the title fights and everything like that.”
Who do you want to see “Thug Rose” matched up against following that performance in Atlanta, Maniacs? Let us know in the comments below.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
