Rose Namajunas is excited to compete in the UFC Denver main event against Tracy Cortez, although she initially preferred her original opponent, Maycee Barber, due to their competitive history and Barber’s provocative social media behavior.
Rose Namajunas is still thrilled to headline UFC Denver. Yet, there’s a part of her that misses her original opponent.
The former UFC strawweight champion will face Tracy Cortez in the flyweight main event this Saturday at Ball Arena. Initially, Namajunas was set to fight rising star Maycee Barber, who had to withdraw from the bout.
Namajunas has noticed Barber’s antics on social media. Barber’s callouts, even involving Namajunas’ teammates as bait, fueled her competitive spirit.
"It’s just been a few interactions with her," Namajunas shared on The MMA Hour. "She once posted a picture of me with my training partners, X’d out their faces, and circled mine saying, ‘I’m coming for you next.’ I was like, ‘OK.’"
"She always claims beating my training partners would break me," Namajunas continued. "But she doesn’t know what could break me; it takes much more than that. I don’t hold anything personal against her, but the competitor in me really wanted to show her what’s up."
After losing the 115-pound title to Carla Esparza at UFC 274 in May 2022, Namajunas moved up to flyweight. She’s now 1-1 in this weight class.
In her divisional debut, she lost a decision to Manon Fiorot at UFC Paris last September. However, she bounced back with a main event decision win over Amanda Ribas in March at UFC Vegas 89.
Aiming to climb the ranks in a second division, she quickly accepted Barber’s departure and Cortez’s entry into the fight.
"Fighting Maycee was super exciting," Namajunas admitted. "I was disappointed initially but now that it’s Tracy, it’s just different. I’m equally excited."
"I went through that ‘Oh man’ phase," she added. "But once they confirmed Tracy as my opponent, it took me a day to process it and then I was like, ‘Alright, this is what we’re doing.’"