Rose Namajunas suffered a scary setback in her first fight of 2026.
A loss to Natalia Silva derailed Namajunas’s dream title fight ambitions that were only one fight away for the fan favorite.
Suffering a loss isn’t ideal for the former two-time strawweight champion but she won’t have fallen too far down the pecking order by losing an eliminator.
The bigger concern for Namajunas was the eye surgery she immediately underwent after the fight due to being poked in the eyes and losing her vision.
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Tell us about the worst foul you’ve ever seen. 👀
Rose Namajunas calls for eye pokes to result in an instant purse deduction regardless of whether it was accidental
On Monday, Rose Namajunas posted a health update several months on from Natalia Silva beating her to earn a flyweight title shot.
‘Thug Rose’ had to have a tube put through her eye and nose for three months as a result of the injuries she suffered due to eye pokes at UFC 324.
In a gruesome Instagram video, she got the tube removed from her eye and suggested a new punishment for the foul that caused her issues.
“So, you want to be a fighter? Three months and now I’m healthy, finally,” she wrote in the caption. “Thumb and eye are all fixed up. I’m a bit out of shape but I’m cleared to train now. I really hope eye pokes will be taken more seriously in the future. I propose instant purse deduction even for an accident. An accident that could seriously affect a fighter’s health long term. Anyways I’m just grateful that it was not more serious.”
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You are Dana White for the day, what’s the one change you’d make to the UFC?
Namajunas added the hashtag “itsnotthegloves”, making it clear that she doesn’t believe this solution will prevent eye pokes from happening.
There hasn’t been talk about changing the punishment for poking an opponent in the eyes.
However, it’s being heavily discussed that a rule change could be implemented in order to adjust the wording around whether a foul is intentional or accidental and how that impacts the outcome of a fight.
This became a big topic when some questioned whether Tom Aspinall, who still hasn’t recovered from his eye injuries, should have been awarded the win instead of his title fight being a no contest when he couldn’t continue due to eye pokes.
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