The best and worst from UFC 237: Namajunas vs. Andrade

#2 Worst: Is this the end for Thug Rose?

Could Rose Namajunas retire after her loss?

Rose Namajunas has always been a bit of an odd fighter; thrust into the spotlight with barely any experience back in 2014, she looked like a force of nature during her run on TUF before that lack of experience shone through in her title loss to Carla Esparza.

She bounced back well, but her subsequent wins – and loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz – never suggested she could beat a champion the calibre of Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and yet she did that twice, and looked brilliant in the second fight.

That defence last April was the kind of showing that could’ve launched ‘Thug Rose’ as a major superstar, but she ended up taking over a year away from the Octagon before losing her title last night to Jessica Andrade.

It was an unlucky break for sure – she was ahead in the fight before the vicious slam that ended things – but the bottom line is that the Namajunas era is now over really before it had a chance to begin.

The word post-fight was that Namajunas might even be mooting retirement, and in all honesty I’m not surprised. She’s been a fantastic fighter to watch over the past few years and is clearly a huge talent, but for me you never got the feeling she was enjoying fighting, not like someone like Andrade, or Amanda Nunes for instance does.

If this is the end, it’s a sad state of affairs indeed, but after seeing BJ Penn fight tonight it might be better that someone who’s not sure about the future doesn’t stick around.