Rose Namajunas Out Of Action Until ‘Fractured Neck’ Feels Totally Healed

There’s simply no doubting the toughness of the current UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas.

Namajunas won the title back at UFC 217 last year when she defeated the previously unbeaten champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk via first round TKO. Since successfully defending her title by defeating the Pole for a second time last April, the champion has kept a relatively low profile, but there’s a very good reason for that.

Speaking on the Ariel Helwani MMA Show this week, Namajunas revealed that she’s currently dealing with a serious neck injury that is keeping her sidelined.

“Physically I’ve got some injuries that I’ve been dealing with for a while,” Namajunas said. “I had a neck fracture [actually] I have a neck fracture. I have some stenosis which means like, the spinal cord that goes through your vertebrae or whatever, the hole for it is a little smaller because of the fracture.

“Sometimes I was just getting real bad headaches every day in training camp and stuff like that and it was just the physical activity, sometimes it was just like the stress would aggravate it even more and like flying places really makes it worse and just stuff like that. So that’s been something I’ve just been focusing on, doing little exercises and stuff and just lots of rehab. There’s really not a lot of information out there.”

Whilst confirming that she doesn’t require surgery, Namajunas didn’t hide the fact it’s been worrying her mentally. Whilst many believe that Jessica Andrade is the rightful #1 contender, Namajunas believes that now is the perfect time for a true next challenger to emerge.

“Yeah, I dunno, I will have to see how things play out,” Namajunas said. “I have no interesting in getting right back in there at the moment. I think I need to let things play out.

“I think honestly, the top-5, after beating Joanna twice and for her to be so far [ahead] and who knows how she will turn up against Tecia. She could hit her win one punch and she’s out so who knows. But the level that she’s at, it’s hard for me to see the top-5 and who the next contender is. I feel like the top-5 there needs to a clear contender.”

Watch the full interview: