Rose Namajunas considered retirement following UFC 274 defeat to Carla Esparza

Former UFC women's strawweight champion Rose Namajunas revealed she considered retirement following her second defeat to Carla Esparza.

Rose Namajunas seriously considered retirement following UFC 274 back in May 2022.

Namajunas lost her women's strawweight title to Carla Esparza after a drab display from both competitors with little to no activity. Many in the combat sports world have labeled the contest as one of the worst title fights in UFC history.

Little was heard of from Namajunas since until a recent interview where she claimed she contemplated calling it a career following what was a second career defeat to Esparza.

“I definitely thought I was done for a good amount of time,” Namajunas said on The MMA Hour “I was just kind of like—There’s definitely a number of things, but the way that I felt in the locker room, I just didn’t feel aggressive and I felt like I don’t really want to hurt anybody. So I was just like, ‘I guess I’m done.’ There’s definitely a bunch of other factors that went into it. It’s obviously not the first time that I’ve questioned whether I should keep doing this or not.

“… After Carla, it was kind of like, I forgot exactly all the factors. I know there was more than just the feeling of not really wanting to partake in violence. It was just kind of a spiritual thing. I just kind of questioned whether or not God wanted me to keep going and maybe this isn’t part of of a godly life. But I kind of came back around to, ‘No, this is definitely what God has called me to do.’”

That said, Namajunas — a two-time champion and one of the best female fighters in UFC history — admits leaving MMA on a loss to Esparza wouldn't have sat well with her.

She now returns to action at UFC Paris on Sept. 2 against Manon Fiorot and as things stand? She's all in on her MMA career.

“I’m definitely all the way back,” Namajunas added. “I’m definitely going to fight. The one foot in, one foot out, that’s been my whole life. Joanna called me mentally unstable for a reason, but I own that and I’m not afraid—I think a lot of people are afraid of being vulnerable and talking about how they really feel and I feel like once they say it out loud then all of a sudden then it’s real and they can’t do anything about it.

“No, once I say something, how I actually feel, that’s the first step of doing something about it.”