Rose Namajunas says Pat Barry is not to blame for Trevor Wittman’s absence in her corner.
Namajunas (11-6 MMA, 9-5 UFC) fell short in her flyweight debut when she lost a unanimous decision to Manon Fiorot (11-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in this past Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 226 co-headliner at Accor Arena in Paris.
A notable absence in her corner was Wittman, but Namajunas says that was her choice – not her fiancé Barry’s.
“Everybody wants to sh*t on Pat and just makes assumptions because that’s the way things are no matter what,” Namajunas said in an Instagram video. “People are just going to assume that he’s the reason why (Wittman) wasn’t in my corner. It has nothing to do with Pat.
“It has everything to do with me and (Justin) Gaethje and him having a fight with the ‘BMF’ and all that stuff, and I did not want to interfere and I stayed back. There’s more to it than that, but for the most part, that’s all I think I want to say about that because our relationships are very … we’re very close people and it’s nobody’s business.”
Barry received plenty of criticism when taking the lead in Namajunas’ corner in her title-fight loss to Carla Esparza at UFC 274. Namajunas lost the strawweight title in a lackluster decision.
Namajunas said she spoke to Wittman after her fight, and plans to continue working with him. Namajunas also said she received the fight offer for Fiorot during Gaethje’s training camp for his “BMF” title fight against Dustin Poirier, and didn’t want to interrupt it.
“The state of mind that I was in, I couldn’t bring that around him,” Namajunas said. “The fact that I could contribute to him not doing well has not sit right with me since that Carla (Esparza) fight. So, I took it upon myself to stay back.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 226.
