Rose Namajunas isn’t ready to call it a career just yet, but wants to make sure she’s motivated when she returns.
Former UFC strawweight champion Namajunas (14-8 MMA, 12-7 UFC) underwent eye surgery to get a canalicular tube implanted just days after her UFC 324 loss to Natalia Silva, where she suffered a nasty eye poke.
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“It was like a three-month process,” Namajunas said on the Weighing In podcast. “Right after the fight, I had to get this surgery right away. They put this weird silicone tube in my eye, and I have no idea how they did that.
“… It was a really easy surgery, though. It was just kind of uncomfortable. I couldn’t blow my nose. I couldn’t rub my eye or something because (the tube) could pop out, so I had to be off – no contact training for three months. Then I had my thumb – I tore my UCL in my thumb.”
Namajunas was cleared to resume training in April, but is yet to be booked for a fight. She explained that after numerous losses in potential title eliminators, she has to rethink what she’s fighting for before stepping into the octagon again. The 34-year-old is targeting a return next year.
“That’s why I’ve been sitting out for a while because I’m trying to rediscover, OK, what am I doing now?” Namajunas said. “To just be fairly transparent, the last three opportunities that I had, or the last three losses that I had – the Natalia fight, the Erin Blanchfield fight, and the Manon (Fiorot) fight – … I was told that I would get a title shot with a win with that fight.
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“And same thing with the Manon fight. I needed to win that fight in order to get the title shot. Then Erin Blanchfield, I’m pretty sure it was the same thing. I came up short in all three of those. I’m at a point in my life where I’m thinking about family stuff and all these things, and next steps, future things. So I do want to compete, and I still want to fight again, but I want to make sure that when I’m going in there, I’m going for a purpose and a reason.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Rose Namajunas still wants to fight, but has to be for a ‘purpose and reason’
