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Nearly four years have passed since Rose Namajunas reigned supreme as the UFC strawweight champion. And if all goes well this Saturday at UFC 324, she could be on the cusp of two-division glory.
Namajunas, 33, has fought five times since moving up to the flyweight division in 2023, defeating Tracy Cortez, Amanda Ribas and most recently Miranda Maverick in June. To start her 2026 campaign, Namajunas faces off this weekend against the division's No. 2-ranked contender, Natalia Silva. Appearing Tuesday on "The Ariel Helwani Show," Namajunas revealed UFC officials told her a win will earn her a title shot, which means a fight against her good friend, flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.
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“It would be weird, but I mean, we’re martial artists," Namajunas told Uncrowned. "I would love to have a conversation about it and talk with her first and everything like that. She’s somebody that inspired me and that I’ve looked up to. It would definitely be conflicting emotions, but at the same time, I’m down to do it. I also understand if there'd be second thoughts or if it would be kind of weird."
The thought of a Shevchenko fight has floated around in Namajunas' mind since she first gained steam at 125 pounds. For a brief spell, she didn't have to worry about the two meeting in the Octagon, thanks to Alexa Grasso's momentary title run. But Shevchenko ultimately won the belt back from Grasso in 2024, and now the prospective collision between friends appears closer than it's ever been before.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but honestly, just as a fan of hers, she’s literally my favorite female fighter, for real," Namajunas said of the 37-year-old Shevchenko. "So it would be so weird because, obviously, I would never want to see her lose, but then I would have to go into a fight and try to beat her. Then, at the same time, as a martial artist, it would just be the ultimate culmination of being able to test myself, because she and Amanda Nunes are the greatest female fighters in MMA [history].
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"It would just be a dream come true, but at the same time, it would definitely be like, 'Ahh!' That's kind of what fighting is — it's weird. I don't hate anybody I fight. I fought people like Tecia Torres — we trained together, then we fought, then we trained together, then we fought [again]. I've done it before. I don't have to hate anybody to compete.
"It doesn't mean I'm going to be like, 'We're going to have sleepovers and be best friends after,' or anything," Namajunas added. "I love all my opponents, even the ones that maybe I was rivals with. Afterward it's water under the bridge, it's nothing."
Namajunas was initially slated to meet Grasso at UFC 324 before the Mexican contender withdrew due to injury, allowing Silva to step in as a late-replacement. A fight against either women wouldn't have been easy for Namajunas though, and the odds reflected that — "Thug Rose" was slotted as a betting underdog in both pairings. Grasso opened as a heavy -400 favorite to beat Namajunas on BetMGM lines; against Silva, Namajunas' margin has only widened, with Silva currently listed as a -450 favorite.
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Regarding the difficulty of the matchups, Namajunas agrees with the moneyline view, however that's also why she's happier with Saturday's current matchup than with her previous one.
“Stylistically, I think Natalia is just a trickier style to deal with than somebody like Alexa," Namajunas said. "The toughness that Alexa would have brought, just her mental fortitude and how she seems like she doesn't change, no matter what's happening in the fight, that would have posed a different challenge than Natalia.
"So I’m definitely happier with the change-up, because I feel like I get closer to my goal faster with Natalia, as opposed to Alexa. Even with a dominant performance against Alexa, I don’t know where that would leave me in the mix [for a title shot]. ... Natalia definitely brings more challenges than Alexa did.”
Still young despite her 13-year professional MMA run, Namajunas has accomplished nearly everything she's needed to at this point. Her two UFC title reigns at strawweight etched her into the history books, and while a third at 115 pounds would've been impressive, she's been happy to stay up at flyweight.
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Even with her friend manning the throne, the hardware Shevchenko holds is all the motivation Namajunas needs to keep going.
"I'm not at a stage where I can just not do anything for the rest of my life," Namajunas said. "So finances are still a factor, but it's not the main motivating factor. If anything, I'm good with where I've wanted to be financially, as far as what I've wanted to get out of fighting. I've sort of accomplished most of what I wanted to do.
"But basically, it's the two-division [champion status] — to just have that as an accomplishment would be a dream come true. It's on the list of when I had goals to achieve in MMA, that was one of the goals that I had."
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