Rose Namajunas not ruling out move up to 125 pounds next, potential Valentina Shevchenko fight

At the moment, Rose Namajunas isn’t thinking about fighting. Rose Namajunas has thought about adding to her vast skills and perhaps her physical body.

Namajunas most recently competed at UFC 274 in May when she dropped a split decision to Carla Esparza and lost her strawweight title. The former two-time champion headed into that fight with the plan to step away from the octagon for a bit afterward, one way or another, and recently partnered up with Polaris for the Polaris RZR Sunday Stroll content series. Namajunas is joined by Chad Mendes (former UFC featherweight fighter), Roy Jones Jr. and Chad Ochocinco, former NFL wide receiver. It is anticipated that the video will be available on the Polaris RZR website in September.

Namajunas is a natural adventurer and has set her sights on a variety of challenges within the Martial Arts space as well as increasing her size in the Weight Room.

“Win or lose, going into the last fight, I knew I was going to take some time off,” Namajunas told MMA Fighting. “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. Although I’ve been doing some training, it wasn’t very consistent. I had a slight shoulder problem that I was trying to fix. I met Isis, who recently won Invicta. I trained with her for a bit.

“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. That is what I would like to do. 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.”

Polaris RZR

When asked if that meant a potential move to 125, Namajunas wouldn’t fully commit to the move — but she certainly didn’t rule it out.

“I don’t know, you can do the math,” Namajunas said on a possible move to flyweight. Like I mentioned, it’s one step at the time. UFC offers me many things, but I need to take the time not to think about fighting. Then in the fall, I will sort of outline everything so you can see the connections.

” I am interested in learning grappling. 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. However, I want to get deep in the world of grappling and then make my way back .”

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Of course, should Namajunas make a move up in weight, Valentina Shevchenko is the current flyweight champion. A matchup between Shevchenko or Namajunas, given the UFC’s policy of making the largest fights possible would make waves.

Namajunas admits that there would be a cause for pause in some ways should the promotion present her with that opportunity, if only due to the friendship she has with MMA Fighting’s No. 1 ranked pound-for-pound women’s fighter. But the martial artist in her can’t help but be intrigued by the concept if the price is right.

“I love Valentina,” Namajunas explained. In my view, Amanda Nunes is women’s GOAT in MMA. But Valentina could be making that case [for her] if she continues doing the same thing. 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. It is difficult for me to tell what a fight looks like. As a martial artist that is obvious. However, that’s something I haven’t figured out 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. Although I have maintained close friendships with former fighters, I never felt uncomfortable fighting with a fellow fighter. At this stage in my life, I’ve begun to see fighting differently.

“It’d be hard with emotions and other things. I feel different right now.