Rose Namajunas has responded to the speculation surrounding Trevor Wittman’s absence at UFC Paris.
“Thug” Rose took on Manon Fiorot in the co-main event of the show on September 2. This was Namajunas’ flyweight debut, but it was an unsuccessful one. The former two-time UFC strawweight titleholder dropped a unanimous decision to Fiorot.
Many fans took note of Wittman, a renowned coach in MMA, not being in Namajunas’ corner. Some fans went as far as to blame Pat Barry. Others, such as former Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson believe “Thug” Rose is “sabotaging” her career with decisions such as a change in weight class.
Rose Namajunas On Trevor Wittman’s UFC Paris Absence
Rose Namajunas recently spoke to fans during a live stream on social media. Someone asked about Wittman’s absence, and the former UFC champion had the following to say:
“So, of course because everybody wants to sh*t on Pat and just make assumptions because that’s the way things are no matter what, people are gonna assume that, ‘Oh, he’s the reason why he wasn’t in my corner,'” Namajunas said. “It has nothing to do with Pat, it has everything to do with me and Gaethje, and him having a fight with the BMF and all that stuff, and I did not want to interfere and I stayed back. There’s more to it than that, but for the most part, that’s all I think I wanna say about that because our relationships, we’re very close people. It’s nobody’s business.”
Namajunas now sees herself having dropped two straight pro MMA bouts for the first time since late 2014. Namajunas has been plagued by inconsistency. One fight, she looks like a world beater against Zhang Weili, the next she’s having one of the most heavily panned title fights in UFC history against Carla Esparza. Time will tell if Namajunas can get it together for good, or if things will continue to be up and down.
