Why did Rose Namajunas cut off her hair?

Rose Namajunas has been sporting her patented semi-bald look for the majority of her career in the UFC. 'Thug' Rose decided to chop her hair off to ensure that it did not interfere with her profession, i.e., fighting.

Namajunas took up the bald look back in 2015. She took to Instagram to make it clear why she had taken the step of chopping her hair off. Showing off her then-new look, the fighter added a caption to the photo that read:

"It's a fight not a beauty pageant. S**t's in my way at practice... Cut it off!"

Women fighters in the UFC often enter the octagon with their hair tightly braided to avoid disturbances while concentrating on their opponents. However, it seems that Namajunas was too absorbed in her art to care about having long hair.

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Rose Namajunas on how cutting her hair was a transformational change

Rose Namajunas spoke to the media leading up to her fight with Paige VanZant in December 2015. Her short haircut was still fresh and the talk of the town at that time.

She was asked by a journalist how her haircut was a transformation for her, allowing her to shed her past. To this, Rose replied:

"[It's] Just years and years of playing in sports, not just fighting, hair's been growing up, and being a tomboy growing up and not really wanting to have to do my hair. I don't even know how to do [my hair]. I just had to put a whole bunch of product in it. I just want to be able to wake up in the morning and feel pretty and not have to do a whole bunch of cr*p [to my hair]. It is definitely like shedding my past, being psychologically mean of my hair as well as physically, and just ripping it out."

Rose Namajunas went on to beat Paige VanZant, who was on a 4-fight win streak going into the fight. She put her heart and grit on display as she submitted VanZant in round 5 via rear-naked choke submission. This win earned her the 'Performance of the Night' bonus.

After creating a solid legacy in the strawweight division, Namajunas moved up to flyweight in an attempt to win the second UFC title. Although she came up short in her divisional debut against Manon Fiorot, Namajunas seems poised to shake up the 125-pound division, after her win over Amanda Ribas at UFC Vegas 89. She will take on Tracy Cortez this Saturday to further her quest for the flyweight title shot.