Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas is booked to face Miranda Maverick. Their women’s flyweight bout will co-headline the UFC Atlanta event at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on June 14, 2025.
Ahead of the fight, various aspects of Namajunas’ fighting style as well as her personal life have been topics of discussion in the MMA community. One such element of “Thug” Rose’s life is her decision to sport a shaved head for her fights.
Rose Namajunas on Cutting Off Her Long Hair
Rose Namajunas cut off her long hair heading into her women’s strawweight bout, which headlined a UFC Fight Night card against fellow MMA superstar Paige VanZant in December 2015. As reported by the UFC, the fan-favorite fighter’s decision to shave her head caught many by surprise.
Namajunas addressed this by alluding to society’s expectations of a person — particularly a woman — perceived as pretty by societal standards. “Thug” Rose implied she aimed to make a statement, emphasizing that the focus ought to be on fighting rather than appearance. She also suggested male fighters generally don’t face the same level of scrutiny for shaving their heads that female fighters do.
Moreover, she said maintaining long hair while competing as a professional fighter was a challenging task. She stated, “My hair was just a thing in the way, almost like a distraction from my confidence. It’s really empowering for me as well, so I just got rid of it.”
Clarifying that she didn’t do it as a jibe at her opponent, Paige VanZant, she said, “There was a lot of backlash for Paige, and people took it out of context, as if that was a slam on her … It’s not like that. But I do feel like it is somewhat of a statement.” Namajunas went on to submit VanZant in their fight and has since largely sported the shaved-head look in her professional MMA bouts.
Namajunas made similar assertions while speaking to the media prior to the VanZant matchup. The American fighter of Lithuanian descent underscored that she’d long faced difficulties managing her long tresses and was happy to have shaved her head.
Incidentally, Namajunas was involved in another much-discussed hair-related incident before her women’s flyweight bout against Tracy Cortez, which headlined a UFC Fight Night card in July 2024. Cortez initially hit the scales at 126.5 pounds—0.5 pounds over the non-title bout women’s flyweight limit. Cortez later cut a part of her hair to weigh in at 126 pounds, while Namajunas weighed in at 124.75 pounds.
Namajunas ended up beating her via unanimous decision. During her post-fight press conference, “Thug” Rose implied she’d love to grow her hair back, albeit after her fighting career.
Namajunas explained, “To me, it’s just hair … But it is — I do, sometimes, have dreams with my long hair. And I’m like, ‘Oh.’ So yeah, I mean, I know that it’s a big deal. But I don’t know. This is fighting … I can’t wait till when I’m done fighting, to where I can focus on being pretty again.” She smiled and added, “Hopefully, I still have my good looks when I’m retired. It’s just hard to focus on that kind of stuff while you’re fighting.”