Rose Namajunas Reveals Expected Return Date And Opponent

UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas was in attendance at UFC Denver last evening and spoke about her highly anticipated return to the UFC Octagon.

Namajunas hasn’t fought since April when she defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the second consecutive time at UFC 223. Having been caught up in the McGregor incident a few days prior to the event, Namajunas cited after that she’d been suffering mental problems since being in Brooklyn and that she was taking time away from the spotlight to deal with some issues.

Speaking last night backstage to MMAFighting.com, Namajunas gave an update on what training she’s currently doing.

“Right now I’m kinda getting back into strength and conditioning and conditioning my body,” Namajunas said. “I’m not really taking impact to the head or anything like that, but just working on being a better athlete and just trying to manage everything else in my life. After the holidays I think I’ll want to fight.”

With her return much talked about, Namajunas went on to reveal the timeframe in which she expects to be back.

“I’ve mentioned it before that I like fighting in the spring and the fall,” Namajunas said. “I think that’s a good time for me. So that’s what I’ve expressed already so we will see how things happen.”

With the likes of Jedrzejczyk, Jessica Andrade and Tatianna Suarez all now vying for a title shot, Namajunas will have plenty of challengers waiting for her return. One woman stands out in her mind as the most deserving though and it will be a fresh matchup for the fans given they’ve not fought before.

“I don’t see how anybody apart from Andrade would make sense,” Namajunas said. “I know she wants to stay active and have another fight, but if not, that’s cool.

“Andrade definitely shook things up,” she continued. “I see Joanna [Jedrzejczyk] also got back on a winning streak so she’s going up so that’s kinda interesting as well. I dunno, other than that, I dunno. I guess Tatianna [Suarez] she’s also starting to make some noise. At the moment I’m just focused on being a better martial artist and being a better athlete. I’m taking it just one day at a time.”

Watch the full interview courtesy of MMAFighting.com