Meet the UFC fighter who seeks serenity over hate

Martin Rogers | USA TODAY

Everyone in the Ultimate Fighting Championship hates something or someone, it seems. Most of the organization’s athletes know only one way to promote a fight – by belittling, insulting or trash talking an opponents.

Rose Namajunas is both the exception to that rule and an exceptional fighter, having claimed the UFC’s women’s strawweight title in November. She defends it on Saturday in UFC 223 in a rematch against former champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk and revealed how there is just one thing about the world of mixed martial arts that she hates.

“I can’t stand all this fake hate,” Namajunas told USA TODAY Sports. “Ego and fear and different negative forces push people into talking a certain way about each other. If there is genuine disdain, sure, why not? But why generate hate for the sake of it? My job is to fight but personally I don’t have hate outside the job.”

More: Does Rose Namajuna have Joanna Jedrzejczyk's number?

Namajunas goes about things in an entirely different way, one that is a reflection of the serenity she has in her everyday life. In the build-up to the pair’s first fight at Madison Square Garden, Jedrzejczyk attempted to bully Namajunas, taunting her about the mental illness issues that both she and her late father suffered from.

Instead of responding with venom, she instead steeled her focus, an approach that paid off with a resounding first-round stoppage that handed Jedrzejczyk the first defeat of her UFC career.

A combination of the result, as well as the positive public response she received, convinced Namajunas of the power of wellness and serenity. She had a troubled childhood in a rough part of Milwaukee and has spoken briefly of being sexually abused during that time, but now lives a quiet life with fiancé Pat Barry outside Denver.

She plays the piano and has learned to play “Cruisin’” by Smokey Robinson. She grows vegetables in her garden and cooks them in her kitchen, practices yoga, wears clothing filled with messages of peace and love and looks after her two cats and Mishka, her emotional support dog. She’s currently reading a book called Buddha’s Brain.

Not exactly what you’d expect from someone with the willingness and capacity to inflict pain and harm on those who face her.

“It seems like a contradicting mindset in such a brutal sport but I think it actually fits in a way,” Namajunas added. “To me, fighting for love and goodness and the positive things in life is more powerful than fighting with hate in your heart. Love is the mindset where I want to be at all times.”

Namajunas’ battle with Jedrzejczyk is the second to last fight on the UFC 223 pay-per-view card from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Saturday, but might be the most competitive bout on the schedule.

With so much calm in her life it is a wonder that the 25-year-old can raise enough ferocity to compete, but she insists that is the last of her worries.

“I never have a lack of aggression,” she added. “I actually need to put myself on a leash to make sure that aggression is controlled. I only lose when I am out of control. I need to be more like a cat, and less like a Tasmanian devil.”