You won't recognise Rose Namajunas with long hair in this throwback pic

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Rose Namajunas, aka Thug Rose, retained her Strawweight Championship title at UFC 268 on Saturday (6 November).

Namajunas, 29, beat Zhang Weili for a second time, the first being in April 2021. Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry was on-hand to present Rose Namajunas with her winning belt.

Thug Rose rocked up to Madison Square Gardens with her signature shaved head. But some of Rose’s fans are curious to know what the MMA fighter looks like with longer tresses. Let’s take a look.

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See Rose Namajunas with long hair

Rose Namajunas has been competing in MMA for more than a decade. She made her professional debut against Emily Kagan on 5 January 2013 at Invicta FC 4: Esparza vs Hyatt.

As Rose only shaved her head in 2015, some fans remember when she fought while having long hair.

Check out some pictures of Rose’s long hair below:

As she’s only had a shaved head for the past six years, there are also plenty of snaps of Rose Namajunas with long hair on her Instagram.

At first Rose just cut her hair short – as can be seen in a picture from 2016. Slowly, however, her hair became shorter until she had a shaved head.

The fighter has joked about her ever-changing hairstyle publicly, although now she permanently rocks the shaved look.

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Why did Rose Namajunas shave her head?

In November 2015, Rose Namajunas debuted her shaved-head look. She shared an update to her Instagram with a picture captioned: “It’s a fight not a beauty pageant.”

Speaking to a journalist in 2015 about her new hairstyle, Rose said:

“Being a tomboy growing up and not really wanting to have to do my hair. I don’t even know how to do [my hair]. I just had to put a whole bunch of product in it. I just want to be able to wake up in the morning and feel pretty and not have to do a whole bunch [to my hair]. It is definitely like shedding my past, being psychologically mean of my hair as well as physically, and just ripping it out.”

A video of Rose fighting in 2014 shows her wearing braids, a typical hairstyle for female MMA fighters.

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Eve Edwards

Eve spends her days writing about everything culture-related. From celebrity news to music, film and television, Eve covers all bases. When she’s not writing you can find her making music or mastering the art of homemade pasta.