UFC 223 was a stressful time for Rose Namajunas, but she eventually was able to pull through.
Namajunas was the women’s strawweight champion at the time and was preparing for her first title defense against Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the co-main event of the pay-per-view back in April 2018.
However, it was made an even tougher task when two days before the event, Namajunas and a number of other UFC fighters and staff were attacked in a bus by Conor McGregor and his entourage who were looking to throw down with Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Namajunas was notably shook up by the incident as she reflected on it over two years on in a new series called “UFC Year of the Fighter: Rose Namajunas.”
“It was like an eternity being in that bus because I had no idea who that was that was attacking us,” Namajunas said. “All of a sudden I see a big old fist kind of bang on my window and then I see one of the security guards grab one of the dudes. I didn’t know it was Conor until a little bit later. When he threw the dolly, the bus was backing up into the elevator spot as he threw it to the window right in front of me. But had the bus not been moving, it would have hit my window.
“In my head, once I found out that it was Conor, I was a little relieved, but I still was on edge because it just took me back to when I was a kid, riding to school through bad neighborhoods on a bus and people throwing sh*t at our bus. And I’ve never been completely cornered like that. We were just sitting there not in control. So what did I do in that moment? I said the Lord’s prayer again and then actually, it did make me feel a little bit better at that moment, and it got me through that tough moment.”
Namajunas Got Through A Tough Time
Many speculated the incident could have an impact on her performance against Jedrzejczyk.
And while it was similar to things she wanted to get away from in her childhood, Namajunas also used it as motivation to show that it wasn’t going to stop her.
“I came back around it, like, this is also what I’m here for,” Namajunas added. “So I took it as motivation to show the world that’s not gonna stop me.”
