Over the course of the UFC’s 28-year history, fighters have relied on their competitive nature, financial incentives, and—on occasion—personal animosity to draw motivation inside the Octagon. More recently, however, a handful of fighters have used political narratives as a source of inspiration, including former UFC strawweight champion Rose Namajunas.
Speaking with Lithuanian National Radio and Television earlier this week, Namajunas, who is scheduled to challenge current strawweight champion Zhang Weili—the UFC’s first Chinese champion—at UFC 261 in Florida, revealed that her motivation to defeat Zhang was rooted in her hatred for communism.