John McCarthy questioned Rose Namajunas' motivation ahead of the UFC on ESPN 53.
Namajunas (11-6 MMA, 9-5 UFC) takes on Amanda Rivas (12-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in Saturday's main event at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
McCarthy believes Namajunas, a former two-time UFC strawweight champion, should never have moved up to flyweight, losing to Manon Fioreau in her debut in the division in September of this year. McCarthy no longer feels the same passion for Namajunas.
“The real question is, does she really want to do this anymore?” McCarthy said on the “Weighing In” podcast. “Because we always say, look, if you're not 100 percent in it, get out. She doesn't seem to be energized by the fight game. It doesn't seem like that's where she wants to be. That's what she's good at. I don't know.”
His co-host, former UFC lightweight Josh Thomson, believes it's the opponent's problem that motivates Namajunas.
“We've had fighters come here before and they've said they need to find the right fights to motivate them,” Thomson said. “She needs to find the right person to motivate her and keep her in the cage and keep her going. Joanna did it. Weyli did it. Jessica Andrade did it. I mean, certain. fighters seem to be motivating her, and she performed best against those fighters.”
Namajunas' statement at Wednesday's media day says otherwise. 'Thug Rose' said the loss to Fiorot gave him even more motivation as he aims to win the second division title.
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