Imagining where Namajunas could be if she beat Fiorot is a fun exercise for MMA news sites. Strawweight had found a strong champion in Zhan Weili. Thanks partly to her victory over Namajunas, Fiorot will fight Erin Blanchfield in Atlantic City on March 30 as a potential title eliminator. The flyweight division is currently held up due to the champion Alexa Grasso’s last fight with Valentina Shevchenko ending in a draw.

An injury to her hand made life difficult for Namajunas during her fight with Fiorot. During the first round, Namajunas broke her hand and couldn’t make a fist for the rest of the fight. Lacking sting in her punches, Namajunas struggled to keep the powerful Fiorot off her.

Namajunas also couldn’t get her ground game going. She didn’t complete any of her six takedown attempts. Namajunas finished the first with a 60-58 edge in significant strikes, but all three judges saw the fight in Fiorot’s favor.

Ribas Staying Up Is an Interesting Decision

Ribas is ranked No. 9 in both the strawweight and flyweight rankings. But there should be some real discussion about whether Ribas deserves to be ranked at flyweight. Ribas takes fights in both weight classes because she wants to stay active.

Ribas won her last fight via TKO last November with a spinning wheel kick against Luana Pinheiro in a strawweight bout. However, Ribas is 1-2 at flyweight. She lost a close split decision with Katlyn Chookagian and a brutal but entertaining fight with Maycee Barber by TKO.

While Ribas doesn’t have the championship fight experience that Namajunas does, Ribas has habitually taken on the top contenders in the rankings. Ribas is 13-4 in her career and is a well-rounded fighter.

Rose Has Always Found Peaks and Valleys

Namajunas came along when the UFC was attempting to establish a strawweight division. She would participate in the first-ever title fight, losing by submission to Esparza in the third round back in December 2014. 

Namajunas didn’t get another title shot until she took on strawweight legend Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 217. Jędrzejczyk still holds the record for the most title defenses in the division’s history with five. No other fighter has defended the belt more than once.

Namajunas didn’t let that phase her. At UFC 217, Namajunas caught Jędrzejczyk with a punch in the first round, allowing her to win by TKO. The two would rematch six months later, with Namajunas pulling out a narrow decision. 

“I’m just better, man,” Namajunas said about how she beat Jędrzejczyk twice.

Slam and Renaissance

Namajunas’ first title reign ended almost as shockingly as it started. During the third round of her fight with Jéssica Andrade at UFC 251, Andrade picked Namajunas up and slammed her to the octagon floor. The force of the blow put Namajunas out cold.

By the time Namajunas and Andrade rematched a year later, Andrade had already lost the title to Weili. Namajunas had to survive a severe third-round onslaught but would beat Andrade via split decision to get a win back.

Another lightning-quick finish put the belt back on Namajunas. She landed a strong leg kick to the head of Weili 78 seconds into the first round of their strawweight title fight at UFC 261. Referee Keith Peterson quickly stepped in to waive off the fight.

Namajunas would defend once against Weili before dropping the belt to Esparza in one of the worst championship fights in UFC history.

Is Staying Up a Weight Class the Best Option?

While an injury hampered Namajunas’ fight with Fiorot, there are no guarantees that going up a weight class will solve her problems. Namajunas seemed lost during her fight with Esparza and didn’t have a good game plan. There is a possibility that if Weili defends her title against countrywoman Yan Xaionan, setting up a trilogy fight with Namajunas would make sense.

Weili would like to avenge her two losses, according to the best online MMA sites. However, Namajunas needs to prove she can still fight at that level. She hasn’t looked engaged during her last few fights in the octagon. Combat sports aren’t a team activity. Once the cage door closes, Namajunas must see if she still has the fire to come out swinging.

No one can fight for you. If Namajunas wants to stay at flyweight, there may be opportunities there, but earning another shot at UFC gold will require her to turn things around quickly.