Rose Namajunas: the story of the champion who escapes the spotlight

Namajunas defends his belt in Brazil

Rose namajunas arrives in Rio Janeiro to defend the Ultimate strawweight belt against the Brazilian Jessica Stacker No. UFC 237, an event that takes place next Saturday (11). Quiet, serious and humble. These three characteristics, at first glance, could define the North American. However, she is much more than that.

The 26-year-old fighter will be the second foreigner to put her reign on the line in Tupiniquin lands in front of a representative of the country. The first to do this feat was Ronda Rousey. The former fighter arrived in Brazil and divided the crowd at UFC 190, in August 2015, when she knocked out Beth Pitbull in a quick 34 seconds.

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Despite the coincidence, Ronda and Rose have many differences. Rousey brought, along with her martial arts skills, spotlight that went beyond the sides of the Octagon. A good fighter, sometimes friendly, sometimes controversial, it didn't take long for her to embark on an artistic career. Today, the first UFC champion divides her time between her film career and, even more so, her already established presence in WWE.

Namajunas, on the other hand, is a discreet champion. To outline the fighter's profile, just watch her speech when she became champion of the strawweight division. When hitting Joanna Jedrzejczyk, at UFC 217, in November 2017, Rose, in a moment of emotion, vented and said that you don't need a lot of provocation to become UFC champion.

“There are so many bad things happening in the media and in the news. and I just wanted to try to use my gift in martial arts and try to make this world a better place. That belt means nothing. Just be a good person. That’s it, the rest is extra…This is awesome, but let’s just hug each other and be nice people.”

Watch the video with Rose Namajunas' emotional speech

Rose's stance differs from most UFC athletes. In 2015, still without much of a spotlight, she would face the beautiful paige vanzant. The fight was even sold as a duel of muses. But Namajunas didn't want that label. She shaved her hair before the fight and even inspired a campaign against children's cancer.

“It’s a fight and not a beauty contest, let’s cut everything”

With shaved hair and a style different from the conventional, the athlete managed, even with just a few words, to endear herself to MMA fans in a universe where machismo still speaks louder.

Despite her humble style, Rose shows a lot of courage and never hid from big challenges. It was like that when she offered Jedrzejczyk a rematch, in April 2018, and defeated the Pole again. She repeats the act and agreed to come to Brazil to face Bate-Estaca.

The fight against Jéssica Bate-Estaca

Fighting Jéssica wouldn't be a problem, given that the Paraná native has already shown herself to be more than capable of competing for a title in the division. But what makes Rose so generous? It's simple. The North American agreed to defend her title in Brazil. Generally, the marriage of title disputes goes the other way. The challenger, or the challenger, travels to their opponents' countries and has to face, in addition to the pressure for the title, an opponent with potential – often – above the others.

The fight in Brazil, however, has an additional complicating factor: the fans. Every fighter who takes a risk against an athlete from Brazil, in addition to supporting his opponent, must be able to ignore the cries of 'uh, he's going to die!', which start from the weigh-in until the end of the fight.

With two title defenses, Namajunas only has one problem when fighting in Brazil: facing a Brazilian. If it weren't, the athlete would probably be received with all the honors.

Moderate and friendly at the same time, Namajunas has a record of 11 fights, eight wins and three losses. It now remains to be seen which of the warriors will have their arm raised at the end of the main fight of the UFC 237.

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