Rose Namajunas has had numerous knockout victories throughout her career, but causing her opponent’s fake eyelashes to go flying was a first for her.
During her recent fight at UFC Denver, Namajunas secured a unanimous decision win against Tracy Cortez in the main event. However, one of the most memorable moments occurred early in the fight when Namajunas landed a powerful punch to Cortez’s face, sending her fake eyelashes soaring through the air. The incident was captured in viral photos and videos from the event.
Reflecting on the moment, Namajunas expressed astonishment, stating, “That’s crazy. I noticed something was up with her eye. The camera literally captured it [flying off her face]. You can’t make that stuff up. God’s got a sense of humor. That is classic stuff. Bless her heart.”
From a safety perspective, wearing fake eyelashes in the octagon could pose a risk, particularly if they end up in a fighter’s eye.
Namajunas acknowledged that she would never consider wearing such accessories during a fight, emphasizing the importance of protecting her eyes due to past injuries.
She shared, “That’s the one thing that I’ve always been [cognizant about]. I’ve had eye injuries sort of, so that’s something that I’m always routinely checking my eyes. That’s the one thing with the fight game, teeth and eyes and the nose too.”
Despite opportunities for photoshoots, Namajunas has never been inclined to wear fake eyelashes, a sentiment she discussed with the late Suzy Friton, a makeup artist for the UFC.
She recounted, “I don’t even wear fake eyelashes, period. So rest in peace Suzy, she always did my makeup great, but she was always trying to make me wear [eyelashes]. She’d always be like, ‘You’ve got to wear these eyelashes,’ and I’m like, ‘Girl, I can’t do that. I know it looks good or whatever but it makes me so tired.’ My eyelids close when I wear those things. Nah, I’m not doing it.
“That was the battle between me and her for a long time. Rest in peace. I would never do that.”
Regarding Cortez’s choice to wear fake eyelashes, Namajunas jokingly suggested that she may now feel compelled to continue the trend following their memorable fight moment.
“It’s a thing now,” Namajunas remarked. “I’m curious to see. It’s dangerous, I would not recommend her wearing it, but it’s almost like don’t you gotta wear them now?”
Reflecting on her performance at UFC Denver, Namajunas expressed overall satisfaction but acknowledged areas for improvement.
She concluded, “All in all, there were really no complaints from her, however, as Namajunas dominated the majority of the fight before winning a comfortable decision on the judges’ scorecards.”
“There’s stuff to improve. That’s why, going into the fight, my plan wasn’t to wrestle that much. Only if she was trying to wrestle me, to like reverse the position or just show her a quick flash of wrestling, but it was so successful that I was like, ‘OK.’ It was very useful. I think I’m really going to focus on being able to do that while still maintaining that same pop and speed that I had in the first round but in those later rounds.”