Long-time MMA fans may remember a time where Rose Namajunas looked very different! After all, in recent years, she doesn’t rely on flashy outfits or carefully styled hair to make headlines. Instead, she walks into the Octagon with a shaved head and a fire in her eyes. But why did she cut it all off? Was it just a style choice or something deeper?
As she gears up to return to the cage at UFC on ESPN 69 to take on Miranda Maverick, let’s take a look at why the former strawweight queen decided to make such a massive change in her appearance. And surprisingly, it has nothing to do with marketing or public perception!
Why did Rose Namajunas cut off her hair?
Back in 2015, just before her fight against Paige VanZant, Rose Namajunas made a bold move. Like a few other UFC fighters, ‘Thug Rose’ also used to have long blond hair and also knotted it tightly before making her way inside the octagon. But, on 10 December 2015, the UFC world witnessed a unique change in Namajunas.
She shaved off all her hair. Why? As she shared in an Instagram post at the time, “It’s a fight not a beauty pageant. S— in my way at practice… Cut it off!””
The decision had nothing to do with shock value. Namajunas was frustrated with having to braid her long hair before every training session and fight. It distracted her. It got in the way. And it didn’t represent the warrior she wanted to be.
She also explained later to the media that the haircut wasn’t just physical, it was symbolic. It helped her break free from the past and fully embrace her identity as a fighter. Namajunas claimed to have embraced the tomboy she always was, and the results spoke for themselves. After the haircut, Rose Namajunas dominated Paige VanZant at UFC Fight Night 80.
She then won a decision over Tecia Torres but dropped a hard-fought split decision to Karolina Kowalkiewicz soon after. But in 2017, she began a new chapter in her journey. One that led her to beating Joanna Jędrzejczyk twice, once at UFC 217, where she claimed the gol,d and once more at UFC 223, where she defended her crown.
From that night on, her buzzcut became as much a part of her identity as her pre-fight mantra, “I’m the best.” Yet, the transformation was more than it appeared on the surface.
Rose Namajunas reveals transformation after hairstyle change
In a media interview in 2015, Rose Namajunas dove deeper into the emotional weight behind her decision. She confessed, “[It’s] Just years and years of playing in sports, not just fighting, hair’s been growing up, and being a tomboy growing up and not really wanting to have to do my hair. I don’t even know how to do [my hair]. I just had to put a whole bunch of product in it.”
Namajunas’ decision to remove the biggest distracting factor, her hair, had caused a lot of uproar in the MMA community. But she was unable to realize the point behind this unnecessary hype about her haircut. In an interview with ‘MMA Junkie’, she said, “Like, I’m not surprised but at the same time I ask the question why is hair even a big deal?”
As such, going back to her transformation, Namjunas had even confessed, “I just want to be able to wake up in the morning and feel pretty and not have to do a whole bunch of cr— [to my hair]. It is definitely like shedding my past, being psychologically mean of my hair as well as physically, and just ripping it out.” Making it clear that this wasn’t just a haircut, it was a transformation.
MMA: UFC 274-Namajunas vs Esparza, May 7, 2022 Phoenix, Arizona, USA Rose Namajunas reacts during UFC 274 at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports, 07.05.2022 20:31:04, 18361690, Rose Namajunas, MMA PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMarkxJ.xRebilasx 18361690
By stripping away the layers of appearance, Rose Namajunas tapped into something more primal and reconnected with the version of her beneath the surface. In the end, ‘Thug Rose’s decision to get rid of her hair wasn’t about headlines, it was about control.
Now, as she gets ready for her first Octagon appearance in 2025 against Miranda Maverick in Atlanta, that buzzcut remains. Not just as a look, but as a statement. A reminder that Rose Namajunas doesn’t fight for looks or fame, she fights for purpose!
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