Meet Colorado’s Current Most Celebrated Female UFC Fighter

If you follow the Ultimate Fighting Championship, commonly known as UFC, then you're probably aware of the phenomenal female fighter Rose Namajunas. While the 31-year-old fighter was born in Wisconsin to Lithuanian parents back in 1992, Namajunas is currently making big waves from her home base of Colorado.

Colorado-Based UFC Fighter Rose Namajunas's Roots

While becoming a well-respected female UFC fighter with immigrant parents could be the plotline for a movie in itself, Namajunas's background is much more interesting than that.

Read More: Ultimate Guide to Colorado Celebrities + Where Some of Them Live |

For instance, the fighter's great-grandfather Juozas Namajūnienė was a member of the Lithuanian military immediately prior to World War II and following the USSR's invasion of the country in 1939, served as a resistance fighter until eventually retiring from the service. However, he was eventually sent to a prison camp and eventually had his life taken by the KGB in 1968.

Get our free mobile app

Namajunas's grandfather Algimantas Andriukonis was a successful professional wrestler, while her father suffered from schizophrenia and passed away from pneumonia in Germany in 2008.

Rose's family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin when she was an infant in 1993 where she was raised predominantly by her mother, a classically trained pianist.

However, the family lived in a rough neighborhood where Rose found herself to be a racial minority in a predominantly black neighborhood that has been described as impoverished and crime-ridden.

A fighter from a young age, Rose earned the nickname "Thug Rose" as a result of her tough attitude and used her fieriness to her advantage throughout her childhood and young adult years by becoming a successful mixed martial artist.

Now, Rose is a former two-time strawweight UFC champion and will be returning to the octagon to fight again in her current hometown of Denver, Colorado on July 13, 2024.