Rose Namajunas explains motivation behind her move up to flyweight: “I want something that scares me”

Rose Namajunas has given her reason behind moving up to the women’s flyweight division.

Namajunas is a two-time UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion. Her exit from the 115-pound division wasn’t exactly ideal. Namajunas suffered a split decision loss against Carla Esparza in a bout that was widely panned for its lack of activity. “Thug” Rose lost the strawweight championship, and she’s hoping a move up to flyweight can shed the negativity from her last outing.

RELATED: ROSE NAMAJUNAS SLATED FOR FLYWEIGHT DEBUT AGAINST MANON FIOROT AT UFC PARIS

Rose Namajunas Reveals Motivation For Flyweight Move

Rose Namajunas appeared on an episode of MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour.” When asked about the move up to 125 pounds, “Thug” Rose explained why she’s jumping into the flyweight fire.

“Weili’s the champ now, so what, I fight her a third time? I don’t know, it’s just not every interesting. I’ve already fought Andrade and this and that and now she’s gone back down… Weili’s the champ, so then I could just beat her again, but I don’t know, to me it’s more than that. I want something that scares me. I want to face my fears. It’s just always been a part of the plan and yeah, I could keep doing the same old thing, but as soon as this game gets redundant, I can get bored really quick and that’s not good for nobody. So I need to keep it fresh and interesting.”

Welcoming “Thug” Rose to the flyweight division will be Manon Fiorot, who is riding a 10-fight winning streak. Fiorot has only lost one fight, and that was the first bout of her pro MMA career. Her last outing was back in October 2022 when she defeated Katlyn Chookagian via unanimous decision.

A win over Namajunas would be the biggest in Fiorot’s surging career. Whether or not Rose can thwart the rising star remains to be seen. The two will collide on September 2 at UFC Paris.