"She is a warrior" - When fans reacted to Rose Namajunas' badly injured right hand following fight at UFC Paris 2023

Fans were impressed with Rose Namajunas for giving her best despite suffering a brutal hand injury in her flyweight debut. After losing the UFC strawweight title to Carla Esparza at UFC 274, Namajunas moved up to flyweight and faced Manon Fiorot at UFC Paris in September 2023. The closely contested fight saw Fiorot edge past 'Thug' by unanimous decision.

Namajunas' performance was initially criticized as she was unable to impose her game despite having a more diverse skill set on paper. However, the sentiment changed after it was revealed that 'Thug' broke the little finger of her power hand in the first round and fought the majority of the contest with the injury.

Check out the picture of Namajunas' broken finger, clicked after she removed her gloves in the locker room:

Fans were thoroughly impressed with Namajunas putting on a competitive performance and shared their thoughts in the comments section:

"She is a warrior," @al_kattabi commented.

"Wow. Toughed it out," @AlanJouban commented.

"Still continued the fight with one hand and could’ve went her way with the decision. What a beast," @Trizkoh commented.

"Huge props to Thug Rose for going the full 15 with that one," @OddSmokerSteve commented.

"Oof that's brutal. Props to her, she didn't win but did pretty good considering that," @BrandonGebhard6 commented.

"She still had moments in the fight. Fiorot was just really sharp yesterday," @_kevin_io commented.

"Losing your power-side hand right off the bat in an open-stance fight sucks big time. Rose is a G for trying to find a way around it," @SeanM_Striking commented.

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Rose Namajunas returns to competition at UFC Denver

Rose Namajunas is set to return to competition at UFC Denver, scheduled to take place on July 13. She will take on Tracy Cortez in the headlining bout of the event. The fight is a high-risk, low-reward effort for Namajunas, who is currently the No.7-ranked women's flyweight contender.

Meanwhile, Cortez is yet to carve a place for herself in the division's top 15. Despite being an unranked contender, Cortez is on a 10-fight win streak with five of those wins coming under the UFC umbrella.

As for Rose Namajunas, she has hit a rough patch since scoring back-to-back wins over Zhang Weili, which marked her second reign as the UFC strawweight champion. After losing to Esparza and Fiorot, she bounced back with a unanimous decision win over Amanda Ribas in March 2024.