Rose Namajunas fell to a painful in more than one way defeat in her flyweight debut.
The former two-time strawweight champion jumped up 10lbs to take on surging contender Manon Fiorot in her backyard at UFC Paris on Saturday night.
‘Thug’ was hoping to secure a shot at the flyweight title that will be on the line when Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko rematch in Las Vegas later this month.
However, she ended up suffering a unanimous decision defeat and stretched her losing streak to two after previously surrendering her 115lb belt to Carla Esparza in May 2022.
After Namjunas found herself on the wrong end of 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27 scorecards agaisnt Fiorot, her manager took to social media to reveal she was dealing with a serious injury throughout the fight.
“Very first clash of the fight this happened to Rose Namajunas’ hand,” Brian Butler wrote on his Instagram story alongside a picture of his client's mangled finger.
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“Mental battle proceeded for the remainder of the round and into round two…
“By the third round Rose was ready for two more… the fight game smh [shaking my head].
Butler also shared a picture of Namajunas with her hand in a splint.
Following a flyweight debut loss, it remains to be seen whether the 31-year-old will continue in her new weight class when she's ready to return from injury.
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In her absence, Weili Zhang has recaptured the straw-weight belt and she defended it with a dominant five-round display against Amanda Lemos at UFC 292 in August.
Namajunas, who holds two wins of the Chinese superstar, could be tempted to drop down in weight and look to make it three wins in a row against Zhang.
Meanwhile, Fiorot could be next in line at flyweight but so could Erin Blanchfield who recently made her case for a title shot by beating top contender Talia Santos.
The 24-year-old had already stopped popular scouser Molly McCann and former champion Jessica Andrade during her meteoric rise through the 125lb ranks.
Blanchfield is 12-1 in MMA and on the cusp of big things in the UFC – it appears she is destined to clash with Fiorot at some point in the near future.
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