LAS VEGAS -- Rose Namajunas had her doubts. She entered her flyweight bout in the main event of UFC Vegas 89 at Apex on Saturday against Amanda Ribas on a two-fight losing skein. Worse, she saw she wasn't ranked in the flyweight division. And she hadn't won since defeating Zhang Weili on Nov. 6, 2021.
It all conspired to sap her confidence. Even as she warmed up, her head was filled with doubts.
"The question goes into my mind all the time, like, 'Why am I doing this?' " she said. "I have to remind myself, 'I'm the best.' It sounds so crazy and sometimes I don't understand it, but God really designed me to do this."
Whether it was assistance from above, or as a result of her own hard work and talent, but Namajunas looked a lot more like the fighter who has had two stints as UFC strawweight champion and is a likely Hall of Famer.
She landed the cleaner, harder blows against Ribas and did well grappling to gain top position. It wasn't a spectacular performance like the head-kick KO of Zhang at UFC 261 on April 24, 2021, but Ribas probably fought her best and most complete and Namajunas still won a unanimous decision.
She got the victory by scores of 49-46 on the cards of Mike Bell and Junichiro Kamija and 48-47 on Sal D'Amato's.
It should get her into the flyweight rankings and at the very least, in the conversation for a title shot. Her path to the title isn't clear. Champion Alexa Grasso is going to rematch former champion Valentina Shevchenko after they finish coaching the upcoming season of 'The Ultimate Fighter."
Next week in Atlantic City, N.J., No. 2 Erin Blanchfield fights No. 3 Manon Fiorot. Fiorot already holds a win over Namajunas, and the winner of that fight would seem to be the likely challenger for the Grasso-Shevchenko winner.
It's hardly an easy road, but beating Ribas, who was ranked eighth at flyweight, was a significant win. And more than anything, it allowed her to breathe. She'll be ranked now, and she'll get a significant fight next, whether it's the Blanchfield-Fiorot winner or No. 4 Maycee Barber. It's going to be a big fight as a result of what she did Saturday.
She's never had to worry about being ranked before, so while she was still in the pound-for-pound rankings, she was out of the divisional rankings for the first time in a long time. And it left a bitter taste.
"I just thought it was strange," Namajunas said of being unranked. "It did make me doubt myself in the sense of like, 'Why am I even worrying about this? I never used to worry about this kind of stuff before.' It never bothered. People would ask me, 'What's your ranking?' and I was like, 'I don't know. Am I winning?' "
She's winning again and back in a familiar spot.
All is right once again in Namajunas' world.
Rose Namajunas-Amanda Ribas scorecard