Rose Namajunas: Facing Valentina Shevchenko for UFC flyweight title ‘would be a culmination of my entire career’

Rose Namajunas admits it would be a little bit emotional if she were to challenge Valentina Shevchenko for the UFC women’s flyweight title, but it would be the most significant fight of her career.

For Namajunas to get that fight, she’ll have to defeat the surging Natalia Silva this Saturday in a main card matchup at UFC 324. The event takes place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and is headlined by an interim lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett.

Namajunas first mentioned a move to flyweight in an August 2022 interview with MMA Fighting, and was admittedly a bit conflicted about a potential matchup with Shevchenko due to their relationship, and having trained together. Now that it could happen with one more victory, Namajunas describes the emotions in that fight becoming reality.

“Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, it definitely would be a culmination of my entire career,” Namajunas told MMA Fighting. “I mean, just as a fan, she’s like, I’d say, one of the greatest, if not the greatest female fighters of all time. So that would be my reason that it would be a dream fight, you know what I mean? Just because, as a fan, I’ve always looked at her career and thought to myself, ‘That would be amazing if I could do what she’s done,’ or at least, I try to push myself to the way that she pushes herself.

“And I know how hard she works, and I know how strong she is and how consistent she is. It’s just, she’s an inspiration to me, so that would be it.”

Shevchenko is on her second run as the division’s champion, mounting a pair of title defenses in 2025 against Manon Fiorot at UFC 315 this past May, and a lopsided decision win over Zhang Weili at UFC 322 in November to solidify the top spot in the women’s pound-for-pound list.

Namajunas enters UFC 324 coming off a decision win over Miranda Maverick at UFC Atlanta this past June. If she were to get the fight with Shevchenko, “Thug Rose” says it would, in a way, compare to sharing the octagon with fellow former strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

“I mean, honestly, in a certain sense, without having any type of relationship with Joanna when I was getting ready to fight her, I mean, it kind of was somewhat of that as well,” Namajunas explained. “I was a big fan of hers, even with our rivalry, and this and that, I always was looking up to her, you know what I mean?

“But I always felt like, I think her being like the boogeywoman at the time, it kind of helped me put those feelings aside in a way. But whereas Valentina, yeah, that would be a little more conflicting because I do like her personality, and I like who she is as a person a lot. But at the end of the day, it’s like, I mean, we also trained together, and I think the amount of training that we put in together in the past, I would much rather be paid for that rather than just beat each other up in the gym.

“But obviously, training is also a lifelong journey as well. So if we did that or if we didn’t or whatever, I don’t know what the future holds, but hopefully we can still train together at the end of the day.”

The 33-year-old Namajunas, as well as Silva, has said that with a win on Saturday, the UFC informed her she’d receive a title shot and the opportunity to become just the second woman in UFC history to become a two-division champion. The former, two-time strawweight champ looks to stop the momentum of Silva, who has won all seven of her UFC bouts, including a dominant win over former flyweight champ Alexa Grasso at UFC 315.

Namajunas was originally slated to face Grasso at UFC 324 before the latter was forced out of the bout. With Silva emerging as a top contender, Namajunas hopes the UFC will come through if she’s able to get a big win against a tough opponent.

“I’m just thankful that I didn’t get the switch up like a couple weeks before the fight,” Namajuinas said. “So we had adequate time to prepare and stuff. … When [the opponent] first got switched, that’s when I was told that [I’d get a title shot with a win].

“I’ve said it before that, I mean, some people are saying like, ‘Oh, [it’s] guaranteed.’ I don’t think anything’s guaranteed, even though they said that. I want to make sure that I put on the best performance possible and that, regardless of what happens, I’m just happy with myself at the end of the day. And yeah, with the win, that would be great.”