UFC star Rose Namajunas will be bearing the scars of her defeat on Saturday night for at least three months after revealing the gruesome extent of her injuries.
The former two-time UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion returned to the octagon at UFC 324 for her fight against Natalia Silva which, ultimately, ended in defeat.
The 33-year-old lost via unanimous decision and, along the way, was dealt some longstanding damage that will require her to have a ‘silicone tube’ in her eye.
Namajunas broke the news via The Ariel Helwani Show, where the she revealed the brutal injuries she suffered due to an eye poke from her Brazilian counterpart.
She said: ‘I’m headed into surgery. Canalicular tube surgery. I got poked in the eye a few times in the fight, but my tube is torn, so it’s going to be repaired right now.
‘I’m going to have a silicone tube in my eye. Three months, so pray for me, guys. Just glad we can get it fixed.’
UFC star Rose Namajunas has been left needing surgery after her fight on Saturday night
Namajunas seemingly suffered an eye poke in her fight with Natalia Silva
Pictures sent from Namajunas’ team to Helwani showed the flyweight star seated on a hospital bed in preparation for surgery later that night.
Helwani added that: ‘One of those eye pokes cut the inside of her eyelid all the way into the tear duct. She’ll have to keep a tube in her eye for three months, and she won’t be able to sneeze or blow her nose’.
The worrying update comes shortly after British star Tom Aspinall had his own disrupted by eye pokes and left him with a rare eye condition.
Back in October, Aspinall retained his UFC heavyweight title via no contest in an anticlimactic end to the main event at UFC 321 that saw the Brit struggling to see and rushed to hospital.
After four minutes of the first round of the fight in Abu Dhabi, as Aspinall attempted a kick, Gane went at his rival with a punch and invertedly raked his fingers across his eyes. A five-minute timeout ensued, and the doctor stepped in.
After extensive testing, Aspinall has shared a medical report to his Instagram page, which states has has been suffering with double vision, reduced eye motility, visual function and a substantial field loss.
‘Depending on clinical progression, targeted periocular steroid injections or surgical intervention to address persistent motility impairment may be required if symptoms fail to resolve,’ the report read.
Aspinall said on his YouTube channel: ‘We’ve got to see how it goes over the next few weeks. I’m not in the gym training at the moment.
Namajunas was dealt her first defeat since November 2024 at the hands of Silva
Namajunas, pictured earlier in her UFC career, is a former two-time flyweight champion
‘I’m not doing anything MMA wise at the moment. I’m just following the doctor’s orders right now.’
He added that he is keen to get back in the cage for a rematch with Gane, but only when he is fit to do so.
In a video showing the 32-year-old’s trip to hospital after the fight, the angry champions said: ‘All that training for that,’ he said. ‘What the f*** is he doing?
‘He got warned twice before it. Twice before it he got warned for it and he f***ing did it again.’
