Rose Namajunas ‘forward-thinking’ toward title shot after UFC on ESPN 59 main event win

Mission accomplished for Rose Namajunas.

The former UFC strawweight champion felt she got the job done on all fronts in her main event bout at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 59 in Denver.

Namajunas (14-6 MMA, 11-5 UFC) defeated Tracy Cortez by unanimous decision to improve to 2-1 since moving up to the women’s flyweight division in September.

“Absolutely, I’m happy with it,” Namajunas said about her performance at the UFC on ESPN 59 post-fight press conference. “I’m happy with: One, having little injury. Two, being able to win. And three, I felt it was a pretty exciting fight.

“I wanted a finish, of course. It’s been a while since I’ve finished somebody, since like what, 2020, 2021? So of course I want to finish, but it felt I got pretty close. In the first, I dropped her. Overall, I’m very happy.”

Namajunas, 32, said she felt her performance against Cortez (11-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) showed she’s finally settling in at 125 pounds. She lost her divisional debut to top contender Manon Fiorot, but has since bounced back with consecutive victories over Amanda Ribas and Cortez.

“It’s just taken a while for me with all the stuff we had worked on, you know, it’s just building blocks, and I had to build my momentum to get to this point,” Namajunas said. “Now my shoulders feel really good. My right one still aches sometimes. I’ve just got to let it fully heal. I think it’s just going to keep getting better and there’s a lot to improve on, still.”

As Namajunas looks forward, she continues toward her goal of joining Amanda Nunes as the only females in UFC history to claim titles in two weight classes.

Whether it’s a rebooking against Maycee Barber, who she was originally scheduled to fight on the card, or a matchup with someone else, Namajunas just wants to find a way to strike gold.

“100 percent (I think I moved closed to a title shot),” Namajunas said. “All that matters is winning, right? So, here we go.

“When (Barber) feels better maybe we can talk about it, but ultimately I’m just forward-thinking right now.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 59.

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