Earlier today, Rose Namajunas spoke with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani to give an update on her upcoming rematch against Jessica Andrade.
The two women were scheduled to rematch back in April, but after suffering two tragic losses in her family due to covid-19, Namajunas was forced to withdraw from the fight.
Shortly after Rose’s withdrawal, the entire fight card was cancelled. Due to higher ups at Disney advising UFC president, Dana White, to not go on with the event that was scheduled for April 18.
During the interview with ESPN, Rose explained the tragic events that led up to her decision to pull out of the fight.
“Yeah, so a couple family members were living in a hot spot where the covid-19 was, and yeah, they came down with it. They got put on ventilators, and shortly it just happened like that, you know, passed away,” said Namajunas.
“For the whole world to get shut down for a virus that first seemed like, ‘what is this?’ You know, (I) didn’t even know if it was real. Then (when) it hit home and it was close to family, it scared me. It shook me up a little bit.”
“I grieved a little bit, and I feel better now. It still scares me, but at the same time so many other things scare me too. So I feel like god is calling me to do this.”
According to Namajunas, the two family members died about a week apart.
However, after going through the series of tragic events, Rose seems to have made it out stronger, and more focused than ever before. Stating that she now has a whole new outlook on life and fighting.
“I’ve seen fighters that have had deaths in their family, and they go out there and (perform). Everybody deals with death differently. For me, it just wasn’t a good idea. And honestly like, in a way it’s been a reset for me. It puts things in perspective. I was just going into it before just kind of focused on trying to control everything around me and trying to make all these situations perfect, and all this stuff, and then everything just fell apart. Everything was looking good and then everything just fell apart. It just was a wake up call for me, like I can’t control anything but myself. So even though it was very tragic, I learned a lot from it, and that’s all we can do,” Namajunas said to ESPN.
Namajunas and Andrade are set to fight again at UFC 251: Usman vs. Burns, Sat., July 11, in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Also known as UFC Fight Island.
