"Thug" Rose Namajunas does well in ESPN event, but was it enough to bring the fans back to her side?

I don't think there has ever been a more rapid fall from grace in the eyes of the fans than that which Rose Namajunas experienced a few years back when her loss against Carla Esparza was dubbed "the most boring fight in the history of MMA." What made it worse for her was the fact that she and coach/husband Pat Barry, instead of admitting the strategy was wrong as well as boring, doubled down going so far as to call fans that dubbed the fight "boring" don't know anything about MMA. This was the wrong way to approach this when a simple apology, and "I'll do better" would have been a much more effective approach.

Because Pat Barry ran to Rose's defense so aggressively, this also re-opened the talks about how Pat might have groomed Rose since when they first met, Rose was 16 and he was 29. Let's leave that out of the picture for now though, although an entire article could be (and has been) written about that debacle.

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While I wouldn't exactly call her recent fight with Tracy Cortez exhilarating, it was considerably more exciting than fights since 2022. We tend to forget that prior to that horrible night that was dubbed the most boring MMA fight of all time that Rose was just tearing through person after person, including handily defeating current Straweight champion Zhang Weili.... TWICE. It was only once Rose was champion that the boring fight happened and we also need to consider that Carla Esparza is just as much to blame as Rose was for that event.

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It seems as though UFC really wants us to forget that the fight ever happened since Esparza literally isn't even in the picture anymore.

Rose looked a lot better versus Cortez as she controlled the fight in basically every way that you can. However, she just didn't seem all that interested in finishing it but I suppose that this hasn't really been the way that Rose is for a long time now. She hasn't finished any opponent since mid 2021 whereas prior to that there was always a 50/50 chance that this would be the case. These days we just hope that Rose doesn't spend the entire time running away.

I don't know what happens to fighters that makes them change like this but I have seen it happen so many times. I don't know if it is the fear or being KO'd or because a concussion subconsciously tends to put them in less dangerous positions, but the fact of the matter is that Rose fights have been snoozers for a while now. Rose did a bit better this time around and I think at least to some degree she has redeemed herself.

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Cortez was gracious in defeat despite her unbeaten record being broken because of Rose. As is tradition anytime that anyone gets even a tiny bit of success, Rose immediately called for a shot at the championship.

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To me, I really hope they do not give it to her because there is so much more talent currently ranked above her and if memory serves me right, she hasn't even faced any of them before other than Fiorot, who she lost to.

So the fans might be a tiny bit more inclined to like Rose, but I think she need to be very careful with her words in the coming weeks or months and should it happen, be very grateful if she is even featured on a pay per view card at all. People just aren't that excited about her being on a card and I think a lot of the reason why she was headlining a minor event like an ESPN one that took place over the weekend, was because UFC was kind of setting her up and hoping she would lose so they could instead propel Cortez into the limelight.

I suppose time will tell but one thing is for sure, Pat Barry needs to stay hidden in the background during any and all appearances, including ones done online in their home.