Rose Namajunas says praise from Mike Tyson is the “coolest thing” that’s happened on her MMA journey: “It was really surreal”

Rose Namajunas is saying that the praise she received from Mike Tyson is the ‘coolest thing’ that’s happened to her on her MMA journey.

It will be Rose Namajunas (12-4 MMA), the UFC women’s strawweight champion, going up against Carla Esparza (19-6 MMA) this coming Saturday, May 7th at UFC 274.

In an interview with ‘ESPN MMA‘, Rose shared what it was like being praised by celebrities and athletes like Mike Tyson saying:

“I know, that was super cool, it was really surreal. Like wow. Every day I’m just like … I wake up and I’m like this is my life, this is crazy! But yeah, he’s one of the best, as far as just truest sense of a fighter and everything in life and fighting. So yeah, what more could I say?”

When Rose Namajunas was asked if the Mike Tyson praise was the ‘coolest thing’ that’s happened to her in her fight journey she responded:

“Definitely Mike Tyson tops, I think for sure. At least that’s the most recent in my mind, yeah.”

Mike Tyson, 55, considered one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time spoke about Rose during a recent episode of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ and praised the fighter, her spirit, her technique and her confidence.

Rose Namajunas and Carla Esparza have met up previously, back in December of 2014, where it was ‘Cookie Monster’ who came out the victor.

Carla is coming into UFC 274 with a record 5 wins in a row, the latest against Xiaonan Yan (15-3 MMA) in May of 2021.

Rose, ‘Thug’, herself has won her last 3 fights, the most recent in November of 2021 against Weili Zhang (21-3 MMA).

So it will be Rose vs Carla II this Saturday night at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. Will you be watching? What is your predicted outcome for the fight?