UFC 261: Embedded, Episode 1- Rose Namajunas shows the benefits of ice baths in aiding recovery

Rose Namajunas is set to square off against Weili Zhang for the Women's Strawweight Championship at UFC 261. Ahead of her upcoming title fight, Rose Namajunas showed the benefits of ice baths in aiding recovery.

Ice baths are a common practice in the combat sports world, as they’re said to help reduce inflammation and aid the process of post-workout muscle recovery. In the MMA community, Rose Namajunas is one of the most well-known proponents of this technique.

As featured on the UFC 261 Embedded: Vlog Series - Episode 1, Rose Namajunas stepped into an ice bath for an intense recovery session.

It was around 1:11 pm that Namajunas stepped into a tub on the front lawn of her residence in Westminster, Colorado for her ice bath. Namajunas and her longtime partner, former UFC heavyweight fighter Pat Barry, explained the benefits of ice baths in aiding recovery.

“You know, a lot of people say, ‘You don’t get physical benefits from an ice bath after three minutes. But she goes in for 10, 10-11 minutes at times. Doing the ice bath for just the physical recovery, but it’s the mental strength that you get from sitting yourself in a frozen tub, without moving,” said Pat Barry.

Pat Barry then checked the ice bath’s temperature and told Rose Namajunas that it’s 32.5 Fahrenheit. In response to this Namajunas jestingly said:

“You said you’d never tell, man; can’t beat 31. It’d be freezing. I’ll be an ice pick.”

Additionally, Pat Barry opened up about how important it is for a fighter to be themselves.

“The number one rule for Rose is just to be yourself. Like, you have to be honest, especially when you’re walking out. All you’ve gotta do is just be you. Whatever m*********r wakes up that day is the m*********r that you are. You don’t have to turn anything on. You don’t have to switch it off. You just need to be yourself at all times,” said Barry.

Furthermore, Rose Namajunas addressed the benefits of her ice baths.

“I mean, it’s always a little hard, you know. But, hey…Sometimes, you know, sometimes it will trigger some cry or whatever, but it’s whatever. Sometimes it’ll make you feel like, initially worse, but ultimately better, you know. I think it’s just a reset button,” said Namajunas. (*H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)

Rose Namajunas aims to regain world title gold at UFC 261

Zhang Weili (left); Rose Namajunas (right)

Rose Namajunas is a former UFC Women’s Strawweight champion. Namajunas lost her title to Jessica Andrade via second-round KO in their first fight back in May 2019. Andrade then went on to drop the title to Zhang Weili.

Following this, Namajunas faced Andrade in a rematch in July 2020 and avenged her loss by beating the Brazilian fighter via a split decision.

'Thug' is set to fight current UFC Women’s strawweight champion Zhang for the title on April 24th, 2021 in the co-main event of UFC 261.

Namajunas would be looking to add another title reign to her resume. However, it will not be an easy task.

Zhang is currently on a five-fight winning streak in UFC. Her last outing against Joanna Jedrzejczyk is considered to be one of the best bouts in Women's MMA history.

It will be interesting to see the strategy adopted by Rose in their upcoming fight.