Why is Rose Namajunas called Thug Rose?

Modified Apr 26, 2021 10:06 GMT

Rose Namajunas unleashes hammer fists on Zhang Weili

Rose Namajunas created history this past Saturday night when she beat Zhang Weili to become the first ever two-time champion in the UFC's women's strawweight division.

'Thug' Rose dropped the former champion with a perfect head kick in round one and followed up with some hammer fists for good measure before the referee intervened. Weili was visibly upset with the stoppage, but has promised to come back stronger.

“I will become a new me.”Zhang Weili congratulated Rose Namajunas on her victory at #UFC261 and vowed to “come back and try again.” pic.twitter.com/OnMbQG4V5o
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 25, 2021

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Rose Namajunas had previously shocked the world in a similar fashion when she dethroned former strawweight queen Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 217 via TKO in the first round.

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Interestingly, Jędrzejczyk was on a 14-fight win streak before she faced Namajunas and Zhang Weili was on a 21-fight win streak entering UFC 261. Safe to say, 'Thug' Rose has a penchant for breaking records and making history.

How did Rose Namajunas earn her nickname 'Thug'?

Rose Namajunas made an appearance with Pat Barry on Joe Rogan's podcast 'The Joe Rogan Experience' in 2018. Among the many things they discussed was how she came to be called 'Thug' Rose.

Rogan asked her how she got the name, to which Namajunas replied:

"Well, so you know my ice-cold stare when I was staring on Joanna? I developed that long ago, you know, 'cause I was never a witty person. I never had a good comeback for anything, so I just had to beat people's a**, like those making fun of me. I had to like scare them off, like, just be all serious. That's kind of where it came from, and I had some Jamaican neighbors. Her name was Erica Gibbs, and she always used to be like, 'That's thug Rose right there!' and she used to tell everybody, 'That's thug Rose! You see her? She's crazy!"

Joe Rogan went on to describe how it was one of his favorite moments when, after Namajunas beat Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 217, Daniel Cormier yelled out, "Thug Rose! Thug Rose! Thug Rose!"