Rose Namajunas comes clean on potential Valentina Shevchenko title fight days after UFC Atlanta win: "It would definitely be weird"

Rose Namajunas is open to face Valentina Shevchenko despite sharing a good relationship with the reigning women's flyweight champion. Namajunas expressed her admiration for Shevchenko as a fighter, promising to put on a strong performance if the two faced each other in a potential title fight.

Namajunas bounced back from the Erin Blanchfield defeat by securing a unanimous decision win over Miranda Maverick last weekend at UFC Atlanta. In a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Namajunas was asked about a possible fight with Shevchenko, with whom she had previously trained.

The former two-time strawweight champion said:

''It would definitely be weird. I like her [Valentina Shevchenko] too much, but at the same time, I'm not opposed to fighting people that I've trained with before. It would definitely be bittersweet because, on the one hand, as a mixed martial artists fan, she's somebody that I really look up to and and is somebody that I never want to see lose, but if I was matched up against her, it'd be like, I'm gonna do my best because I know how real of a martial artist she is and she wants to test herself. She wants to be pushed to the limit. It would kind of be that weird thing, but we would just have to embrace it."

Check out Rose Namajunas' comments below:

As for Shevchenko, she began her second flyweight reign by securing an impressive unanimous decision victory against Manon Fiorot at UFC 315 last month. 'Bullet' is now expected to defend her throne against emerging contender Natalia Silva or reigning strawweight champion Zhang Weili in a superfight.

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When Rose Namajunas hailed Valentina Shevchenko ''the greatest female fighter''

After losing her strawweight title to Carla Esparza at UFC 274, Rose Namajunas moved up to face Manon Fiorot in a flyweight bout at UFC Paris in 2023.

Ahead of the fight, Namajunas spoke to Scott Fontana of New York Post Sports and praised Valentina Shevchenko, who was then aiming to reclaim her title in a rematch against Alexa Grasso at Noche UFC.

“I do believe that she’s [Valentina Shevchenko] the greatest female fighter. I have a lot of confidence in her that she’s gonna get her belt back...I adore Valentina. I really do appreciate what she’s done for me. Just being able to train with her, period. I have a lot of respect for that...She’s a freakin’ warrior and she always would want to test herself against the best in the world.'' [H/t: bjpenn.com]