Rose Namajunas sees at least two women whom she can beat to earn her first flyweight title shot in the UFC.
The former two-time strawweight queen got her flyweight championship ambitions back on track in the co-main event of Saturday’s card.
Namajunas beat Miranda Maverick at UFC Atlanta, marking an immediate bounce-back for ‘Thug Rose’ after a narrow loss to Erin Blanchfield last November.
After successfully defending her spot against the No. 11-ranked contender, Namajunas has her sights set back on those above her on the flyweight ladder.
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Rose Namajunas is open to Natalia Silva, Alexa Grasso fights after UFC Atlanta
The result at State Farm Arena moved Namajunas’ record at 125 pounds to a positive 3-2 and cemented her No. 7 ranking.
Moving forward, ‘Thug Rose’ plans to target whoever can help her finally earn a chance at achieving two-division glory.
And with the current landscape of the division, two names came to mind during her post-fight press conference in Atlanta — former champion Alexa Grasso and top contender Natalia Silva.
“Before this fight, I was looking at Viviane (Araujo), but she’s matched up with Tracy (Cortez).
“I just fought Erin, so that wouldn’t make sense…they probably wouldn’t wanna do that,” Namajunas added. “There’s Natalia (Silva), there’s Alexa Grasso.
“Any of those girls, anybody that’s in the top five or whatever.
“If something crazy happens and I’m deserving of a title shot, I’d love that as well. But I want to be deserving, so whatever it takes to get that.”
And in terms of how she’d fare against both, Namajunas sees the Grasso clash as a better stylistic matchup for her.
“I think Alexa Grasso would probably be stylistically a little bit better for me. I think Natalia, her speed is very tricky and she sustains it for a very long time.
“She (Silva) would be I think more of a trickier fight,” Namajunas added. “(But) Alexa has the experience in terms of the title fights and everything like that.”
Rose Namajunas could be contending with a former rival for the next title shot
When it comes to a title shot, it’s not only Grasso and Silva whom Namajunas is competing against.
One of the leading options for champion Valentina Shevchenko’s next fight is a former two-time opponent of ‘Thug Rose’, reigning two-time strawweight titleholder Zhang Weili.
After her UFC 315 victory over Manon Fiorot in May, Shevchenko was called out by Zhang in a post on Instagram.
Having cemented her superiority at strawweight with consecutive defenses against Amanda Lemos, Yan Xiaonan, and Tatiana Suarez, the Chinese star’s two-division ambitions have grown.