Rose
Namajunas recently weighed in on arguably the most memorable
moment of her latest win over Tracy
Cortez.
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Namajunas faced Cortez, who replaced Maycee
Barber on short notice, in the main event at UFC
on ESPN 59 at the Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday. Namajunas
landed the crisper strikes and even got the better of Cortez in
most grappling exchanges to earn a unanimous decision victory.
However, the most memorable moment of the fight was arguably when
Namajunas dropped Cortez with a left hook in the opening frame,
which also sent one of the latter’s fake eyelashes flying.
Rose Namajunas done knocked down & punched
the eyelash off Tracy Cortez damn face 🤣🤣🤣🤣
#UFCDenver pic.twitter.com/5WOPqcprpj— JrRanks (@RealJrRanks)
July 14, 2024
While Namajunas didn’t recognize it during the fight, zoomed in
clips of Cortez sporting one fake eyelash after the other went
flying have since flooded the internet. “Thug” made light of the
situation during an appearance on ”The MMA Hour.”
“I noticed something was up with her eye, I didn’t see how… Like
the camera literally captured it [flying] like, deewww. You can’t
make that stuff up, that’s just like, God’s got a sense of humor,
man,” Namajunas said. “That’s just like classic stuff. Like that
is, bless her heart [laughs].”
Namajunas further revealed that fake eyelashes were the biggest
bone of contention between her and late UFC makeup artist Suzy
Friton, who passed away in 2021. Despite Friton repeatedly
insisting that Namajunas wear fake eyelashes, the former
strawweight champ never obliged because they would make her eyes
droopy. While Namajunas would never advise Cortez to wear fake
eyelashes, she wonders whether her opponent has an option after
Saturday’s fiasco.
“I don’t even wear fake eyelashes like, period,” Namajunas said.
“So rest in peace Suzy [Friton]. She always did my makeup great but
she always was trying to make me wear – She would always be like,
‘No you gotta wear these eyelashes.’ And I’m like, ‘Girl I can’t do
that.’ Like, I know it looks good or whatever, but it makes me so
tired. Like my eyelids just close when I wear those things. And
it’s just, ‘No I’m not doing it.’ So that was the battle between me
and her for a long time. But yeah, rest in peace… So yeah, I would
never do that. But it’s a thing now so I’m curious to see – I mean
it’s dangerous, I would never recommend her wearing it but it’s
almost like, now don’t you got to wear them?”
Namajunas suffered a unanimous decision loss against Manon
Fiorot in her flyweight debut at UFC Paris in September 2023.
Having since racked up consecutive unanimous decision wins,
Namajunas wants a rematch against Fiorot. Since she fought Fiorot
at her home ground in Paris, Namajunas, who is of Lithuanian
descent, called for a rematch in Lithuania.
“My dream fight right now would be Manon rematch in Lithuania.
Because I fought her in Paris, broke my pinky right away, and I
felt like it was very competitive with one hand. But I understand
she deserves a title shot as well. So, that’s what I want. I also
have really enjoyed doing this quick turnaround. I do want to take
a little bit of time to do some stuff ,but I’ll also be ready if a
good opportunity pops up too.”