Rose Namajunas is known for her signature skinhead, but many fans won’t know why the former two-time UFC champion chose to shave all her hair off.
‘Thug’ burst onto the scene with an epic run on The Ultimate Fighter 20 where she made it all the way to the final before losing to Carla Esparza in the first 115lb UFC title fight.
Namajunas was often compared to Ronda Rousey because of her long blonde hair and ability to submit people, as she did during her official debut in the UFC against Angela Hill.
However, she shocked everyone with a bold new look ahead of her next fight.
Rose Namajunas says Paige VanZant inspired her to get a skinhead
Namajunas and Paige VanZant were two of the most exciting strawweight UFC prospects when they were matched together in 2015.
In the build-up to their main event, Namajunas caused a stir when she shared a picture on social media that showed she was now sporting a buzz cut.
Namajunas captioned the post: “It’s a fight, not a beauty pageant. “S***’s in my way at practice… Cut it off!”
The ‘beauty pageant’ comment was taken by some as a shot at VanZant, who has since used her good looks to turn her combat sports career into an OnlyFans fortune.
However, Namajunas insisted that the remark had nothing to do with her opponent and everything to do with how society views her as a young female fighter.
“There was a lot of backlash for Paige, and people took it out of context as if that was a slam on her,” Namajunas told UFC.com.
“It’s not like that. But I do feel like it is somewhat of a statement.
“Why not do it to keep the focus on the fight so I don’t have to worry about training, then rinsing off and washing my hair, then drying it off, making it all pretty, doing my makeup, then getting ready for interviews and pictures and then having to go back to training and putting it back up.
“I just want to focus on the fight and figuratively and literally cut out as much as I can.
“Society expects women to be pretty and play that certain role, but I think we put that pressure on ourselves as well as female fighters, especially if we’re what society considers attractive.
“We have that pressure to use that to our advantage, but for me, that’s only going to help you in other avenues. I want to get as many advantages as possible in fighting itself. I don’t want to spread myself too thin.”
Whatever the motivation was, the new look worked for Namajunas as she dominated VanZant before tapping her out in the fifth round of their fight.
Since then, the 32-year-old has sported a shaved head in all of her fights.
Namajunas is arguably the greatest strawweight of all time after beating Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Zhang Weili twice, knocking out both women in the first round before outpointing them in rematches.
Now she’s trying to become a two-weight champion after moving up to flyweight where she lost her debut to Manon Fiorot before beating Amanda Ribas and Tracy Cortez.
Paige VanZant is a Power Slap star
VanZant’s career has gone in a very different direction to Namajunas’.
’12 Gauge’ suffered with an arm injury that hampered her career before she walked away from the UFC in 2020 and signed a lucrative deal with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship [BKFC].
After two fights and two losses, VanZant put on the gloves for a boxing bout with OnlyFans star Elle Brooke, who shockingly dropped her when they battled to a controversial draw in May.
A month later, she switched sports again when she accepted Dana White’s offer to compete in slap fighting for his Power Slap promotion, where she outpointed Christine Wolmarans to snap her five-year winless run.
VanZant is currently gearing up for another Power Slap bout. On Thursday, she’ll take on Chelsea Dodson, who is married to former UFC flyweight contender John Dodson, at Space42 Arena in Abu Dhabi.
It seems like she’s finally found a new home after a tough few years of disappointing results away from MMA.
“My draw to Power Slap is that I had nothing going on, and I just came out of a boxing match, so I was like, ‘You know what, I’m already in shape,’” VanZant told MMA Junkie earlier this week.
“They called and asked if I wanted to do Power Slap, and I was like, ‘Yeah, why not? It seems like a great opportunity.’
“I didn’t know if I would want to do it again, it was a brand-new experience, and I absolutely loved it.”