There will be some personal history at play when Rose Namajunas enters the cage with Maycee Barber for the UFC on ESPN 59 main event.
Namajunas (12-6 MMA, 10-5 UFC) will take on Barber (14-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in a five-round women’s flyweight bout on July 13 at Ball Arena in Denver (ESPN, ESPN+). It’s a matchup that will have significant stakes on the title picture going forward, and there’s a backstory between the two sides during their time training within similar circles in Colorado.
“I don’t know exactly how old she was when we met – she was probably around 18 or something like that, maybe 17,” Namajunas told MMA Junkie. “I know we did some jiu-jitsu one time. I think we grappled a bit. I remember it was a situational thing – as far as I remember. This was a really long time ago. There was a few times where we were supposed to spar and she was at the gym, but something had come up during that. I was ready to go, but something with her was going on. … We didn’t train extensively together a bunch. She was always just kind of in the area.”
