Born: 29-06-1992
Birthplace: Milwaukee
State:Wisconsin
Nationality: American
Ethnicity: Lithuanian
Nicknames: Thug Rose
Height: 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Weight: 115 lb (52 kg; 8.2 st)
Division: Strawweight
Reach: 65.0 in (165 cm)
Rank: Black belt in Taekwondo/Black belt in Karate/Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Years active: 2010 - present (MMA)
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Mixed martial arts record
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Total:11
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Wins: 8
By knockout:1
By submission: 5
By decision: 2
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Losses: 3
By submission: 1
By decision: 2
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American mixed martial artist Rose Gertrude Namajunas grew up in Milwaukee as daughter of Lithuanian parents. She had some complications and hardships during her youth, because her father suffered from schizophrenia. She is the fiancée and training partner of Glory and former UFC heavyweight Pat Barry. Her moniker, "Thug Rose", was given by friends when she was young because her intimidating scowl she showed on her face.
Fighting Style: She utilizes forward movements while pressuring opponents with jabs and high kicks. She is also able to do a serie of axe kicks, front kicks, and forward roundhouse kicks after each other to her opponent's head. After closing the distance, she will sometimes attempt to grapple and execute a submission.
She started in 2010 as amateur in MMA and racked up a perfect amateur record of 4-0 with 2 wins by TKO and 2 by decision. Both of the finishes came in the first round. She trained as amateur under Greg Nelson at Minnesota Martial Arts Academy.
Mixed martial arts amateur record
- Win 4–0 Jen Aniano Won by TKO (head kick & punches)/Event: King of the Cage - Trump Card/Date: 30 June 2012.
- Win 3–0 Moriel Charneski Won by Decision (unanimous)/Event: King of the Cage - March Mania/Date: 17 March 2012
- Win 2–0 Heather Bassett Won by Decision (unanimous)/Event: King of the Cage - Winter Warriors/Date: 10 December 2011
- Win 1–0 Melissa Pacheco Won by TKO (punches)/Event: North American Fight Championship - Relentless:/Date: 7 August 2010
She made her professional fight debut in the Invicta Fighting Championship. She won her first fight against Emily Kagan at Invicta FC 4: Esparza vs. Hyatt, held on january 5, 2013 at the Memorial Hall in Kansas City. She won by submission due to a rear-naked choke in round three. She earned the Submission of the Night bonus after her debut victory. She fights her second pro fight against Kathina Catron at Invicta FC 5: Penne vs. Waterson, held on April 5, 2013 at the Ameristar Casino in Kansas City. She won the fight by submission due to a flying armbar just 12 seconds into the first round. She gained for the second time the Invicta Submission of the Night award,after the fight.
She loses her last Invicta Fighting Championship fight against Tecia Torres at Invicta FC 6: Coenen vs. Cyborg, held on july 13, 2013 at the Ameristar Casino in Kansas City. She lost by unanimous decision in round 4 after 5 minutes.
- Loss 2–1 Tecia Torres Loss by Decision (unanimous)/Event: Invicta FC 6: Coenen vs. Cyborg/Date: July 13 2013
- Win 2–0 Kathina Catron Won by Submission (flying armbar)/Event: Invicta FC 5: Penne vs. Waterson/Date: April 5 2013
- Win 1–0 Emily Kagan Submission (rear-naked choke)/Event: Invicta FC 4: Esparza vs. Hyatt/Date: January 5 2013
She signed an contract at the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) in december 2013. She competes in a tournament against 10 other strawweight fighters on season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter. The winner is crowned as the first-ever UFC strawweight champion. She fight against Alex Chambers in the preliminary round of the tournament. They fight at The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned event, held on July 28 2014 in Las Vegas. She won by submission due to a rear-naked choke in the first round. In the quarter-finals, she fights against Joanne Calderwood at The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned event, held on August 6 2014 in Kansas City. She won the fight via kimura in the second round. In the semi-finals, she fights against Randa Markos at The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned event, held on August 14 2014 in Kansas City. She won the fight again via kimura in the first round. She fights in the final against Carla Esparza in The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned Finale, held on December 12 2014 in Las Vegas. She lost the fight as she was submitted via rear-naked choke in the third round. The winner Carla Esparza became the first UFC strawweight champion ever. Despite losing in the finale, Namajunas was awarded two season $25,000 bonus awards for Performance of the Season and Fight of the Season for her bout with Joanne Calderwood.
Ultimate Fighter
- Final: Carla Esparza Lost by Submission (rear-naked choke)/Event: The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned Finale/Date: December 12 2014
- Semi Final: Randa Markos Won by Submission (kimura)/ Event: The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned /Date: August 14 2014
- Quarterfinal: Joanne Calderwood Won by Submission (kimura)/Event:The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned/Date: August 6 2014
- First Round: Alex Chambers Won by Submission (rear-naked choke)/Event: The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned/Date: July 28 2014
Her first big UFC fight would be against Nina Ansaroff held at UFC 187 event on may 23 2015. The fight was cancelled a couple of hours before the fight started because Nina being ill and having to pull out.Nina missed also weight by 4 pounds and she was fined 20 percent of her fight purse. She made her UFC fight debut later in the fight against Angela Hill at UFC 192 event, held on october 3 2015 at the Toyota Center in Houston. She won the bout by Technical Submission due to a standing rear-naked choke after 2:47 in round 1. She replaced the injured Joanne Calderwood in the fight against Paige VanZant at the UFC Fight Night 80: Namajunas vs. VanZant event, held on december 10 2015 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. She dominated the fight, out-striking her consistently and landing eight takedowns. She attempted three submissions, two arm bars and a rear naked choke, before she won the fight half way through the fifth round via submission due to a rear naked choke. The win also earned her first Performance of the Night bonus award. She lost one UFC fight against Karolina Kowalkiewicz in a match regarded as a title eliminator at the UFC 201 event, held on july 30 2016 at the Philips Arena in Atlanta. She won the bout via split decision after 5 minutes in the 3rd round. Both fighters were awarded with the Fight of the Night for their performance. She won in a rematch against still undefeated Tecia Torres via unanimous decision at the UFC on Fox 19: Johnson vs. Reis event, held on april 16, 2016 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. She fights against Strawweight champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk at the UFC 217 event, held on november 4, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. She was the big underdog against the undefeated champion. She upset the MMA world when she knocked her down, once behind the ear and then again with a left hand to her chin. She won the fight by KO after 3:03 in the first round and was crowned as the new UFC Women's Strawweight Champion. This win also earned her second Performance of the Night bonus award. This was her first knockout victory in her professional career (2 TKO-wins as an amateur) and her victory was immediately declared one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. At the UFC 217 post-fight press conference, she stated that she intended to use her champion status as a platform to spread awareness of mental illness. She was defending her title in a rematch against Joanna Jędrzejczyk in her last UFC fight at the UFC 223 event, held on april 7, 2018 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. She won the fight by unanimous decision after 5 minutes in round 5.
UFC Fight Record
- Win 8–3 Joanna Jędrzejczyk Won by Decision (unanimous)/Event: UFC 223/Date: April 7 2018
- Win 7–3 Joanna Jędrzejczyk Won by TKO (punches)/Event: UFC 217/Date: November 4 2017
- Win 6–3 Michelle Waterson Won by Submission (rear-naked choke)/Event: UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Reis/Date: April 15 2017
- Loss 5–3 Karolina Kowalkiewicz Lost by Decision (split)/Event: UFC 201/Date: July 30 2016
- Win 5–2 Tecia Torres Won by Decision (unanimous)/Event: UFC on Fox: Teixeira vs. Evans/Date: April 16 2016
- Win 4–2 Paige VanZant Won by Submission (rear-naked choke)/Event: UFC Fight Night: Namajunas vs. VanZant/Date: December 10 2015
- Win 3–2 Angela Hill Won by Technical Submission (rear-naked choke)/Event: UFC 192/Date: October 3 2015
Championships and accomplishments
- Mixed martial arts
- Ultimate Fighting Championship
- UFC Women's Strawweight Championship (One time, current) vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk
- One successful title defense
- Performance of the Night (Two times) vs. Paige VanZant and Joanna Jędrzejczyk
- Fight of the Night (One time) vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
- The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned (Runner-Up)
- TUF 20 Fight of the Season vs. Joanne Calderwood
- TUF 20 Performance of the Season vs. Joanne Calderwood
- Invicta FC
- Submission of the Night (Two times) vs. Emily Kagan, Kathina Catron
- Fighter of the Year
- 2017 MMA Fighter of the Year
- ESPN, MMASucka, MMA Fighting (Top 5: #4), MMA Mania (Top 5: #4), RealSport (Top 5: #3)
- 2017 UFC Fighter of the Year
- CBS Sports (Top 5: #3)
- 2017 MMA Female Fighter of the Year
- World MMA Awards (nominee), Yahoo Sports, MMAjunkie, Cageside Press, Combat Press, SevereMMA, MMA Today (Top 50: #1), Awakening Fighters,Promoting Real Women
- Upset of the Year
- 2017 MMA Upset of the Year vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk
- World MMA Awards (nominee), Sports Illustrated, Sherdog, MMAjunkie,MMA Fighting, MMA Weekly, Metro.co.uk, Combat Press, Fight Booth, MMASucka, The MMA Takeover, SevereMMA, Bloody Elbow (Top 3: #1)
- 2017 UFC Upset of the Year vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk
- Sport360, Pundit Arena, Per Sources
- Submission of the Year
- 2013 MMA Submission of the Year vs. Kathina Catron
- World MMA Awards (nominee), MMA Weekly, The MMA Corner
- 2013 Women's MMA Submission of the Year vs. Kathina Catron
- Bleacher Report, Bloody Elbow, WMMA Press Association, Awakening Fighters,[92] Promoting Real Women
- 2015 Women's MMA Submission of the Year vs. Paige VanZant
- Awakening Fighters
- 2017 Women's MMA Submission of the Year vs. Michelle Waterson
- Awakening Fighters (community)
- Knockout of the Year
- 2017 Women's MMA Knockout of the Year vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk
- Awakening Fighters (community), Promoting Real Women
- Fight of the Year
- 2013 Women's MMA Fight of the Year vs. Tecia Torres
- Bleacher Report
- Year's Most Violent
- 2017 Fight Booth Lady Violence Award
- Sherdog.com's 2015 All-Violence Second Team: Strawweight[96]
- Sherdog.com's 2017 All-Violence Second Team: Strawweigh
