The UFC will present a special film on Rose Namajunas coming up.
Thug Rose: Mixed Martial Artist will premiere at the 29th Annual Austin Film Festival on Sunday, October 30. The film will stream on UFC Fight Pass beginning Wednesday, November 9.
A two-part UFC Original, the film details the rise of Namajunas to the ranks of UFC champion while battling plenty of adversity along the way.
President of UFC, Dana White, stated “I am so excited that the Austin Film Festival is recognizing Thug Rose and the outstanding work from our UFC Fight Pass production team. Huge honor. I know UFC fans are going to love Thug Rose when they see it at the world premiere later this month.”
Namajunas will be in attendance at the film festival along with the director, Marius Markevicius. The two will be on the red carpet and take part in a special Q&A after it airs.
More on Namajunas, Markevicius
Namajunas was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wis. She started her professional MMA career in 2013 and made her UFC debut in 2014. After a series of impressive victories, Namajunas earned the opportunity to challenge the UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion, Joanna Jędrzejczyk at UFC 217 in Madison Square Garden, where Namajunas put away the champ in the first round via T.K.O., becoming the new UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion.
After successfully defending the title in a rematch with Jędrzejczyk, Namajunas lost the strawweight championship to Jessica Andrade in her next bout. After a scary knockout slam by Andrade, it would be a full year before “Thug Rose” returned to the Octagon.
After defeating Andrade in her first fight back, Namajunas once again earned a shot at the UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship, knocking out Weili Zhang in the first round, becoming the first-ever two-time UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion. She also became the first woman in UFC history to regain her championship title after losing it.
Rising to the occasion each time she competes, Namajunas proves what she yells during her walk to the Octagon: that she truly is one of the best.
Markevicius is an award-winning filmmaker and President of Sorrento Productions, a production company based in Santa Monica, Calif. Prior to Thug Rose: Mixed Martial Artist, his previous directorial credits included The Other Dream Team, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and which was nominated for Best Documentary of the Year by the Producer’s Guild of America (PGA).
He also directed Ashes In The Snow, the narrative film adaptation of the New York Times best-selling novel Between Shades Of Gray. Markevicius also served as a producer on Like Crazy, the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winning film starring Felicity Jones and Jennifer Lawrence.
