This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Rose Namajunas Turns 25

She was not yet old enough to drink when she introduced herself to the MMA masses with a sensational 12-second flying armbar submission on Kathina Catron at Invicta Fighting Championships 5 in 2013. Now one of the top women’s strawweights in the world, Rose Namajunas turns 25 on June 29.

Just nine bouts into her professional career, “Thug Rose” has only begun to scratch the surface of her immense talent. A finalist on Season 20 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, Namajunas has compiled a 4-2 record under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner while emerging as the No. 1 contender for Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s women’s strawweight title. The Grudge Training Center rep last appeared at UFC on Fox 24 in April, when she submitted Michelle Waterson with a second-round rear-naked choke at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Namajunas owns other notable victories over Tecia Torres, Paige VanZant and Angela Hill. She holds the rank of black belt in karate and taekwondo but has secured five of her six wins by submission. Barring injury, Namajunas figures to challenge Jedrzejczyk for the 115-pound crown later this year.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of June:

JUNE 1

Miodrag Petkovic, 48
Michael Buchkovich, 40
Wendell de Oliveira Marques, 34
Patricky Freire, 31

JUNE 2

Chris Haseman, 48
Matt Serra, 43
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, 41
Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, 41
Christian M'Pumbu, 40
Roan Carneiro, 39
Tatsuya Mizuno, 36
Eduardo Bustillos, 30
Christopher Wing, 29

JUNE 3

Jason MacDonald, 42
Linton Vassell, 34
Vernon Ramos, 25

JUNE 4

Tonya Evinger, 36
Michael Johnson, 31
James Krause, 31

JUNE 5

Brian Warren, 43
Jose Caceres, 30
Ricky Turcios, 24

JUNE 6

David Bielkheden, 38
Ray Wood, 28
Xavier Siller, 23

JUNE 7

Chris Wilson, 40
Saad Awad, 34
Ryan Bader, 34
Michael Kuiper, 28
Mark Burns, 26

JUNE 8

Dan Severn, 59
Marvin Eastman, 46
Hirotaka Yokoi, 39
Noad Lahat, 33
Tim Roman, 32

JUNE 9

Dion Staring, 39
John Phillips, 32
Jim Hettes, 30

JUNE 10

Cyrille Diabate, 44
Brendan Tierney, 42
Luiz Azeredo, 41
Hiroyuki Takaya, 40
Nordine Taleb, 36
Walt Harris, 34

JUNE 11

Tsuneo Kimura, 35
Daron Cruickshank, 32
Artur Kadlubek, 32
J.J. Aldrich, 25

JUNE 12

Andy Ologun, 34
Ali Bagautinov, 32
James Chaney, 30
John Lineker, 27

JUNE 13

Daniel Aguiar, 37
Greg Rebello, 35
Paul Bradley, 34
Lucie Pudilova, 23

JUNE 14

Claude Patrick, 37
Danny Martinez, 32
Chris Barnett, 31
Anatpong Bunrad, 31
Amador Ramirez, 27

JUNE 15

Kevin Casey, 36
Joe Stevenson, 35
Ryan Keenan, 32
Gabriel Benitez, 29

JUNE 16

Rich Attonito, 39
Daria Ibragimova, 32
Chris Gruetzemacher, 31

JUNE 17

Kuniyoshi Hironaka, 41
Chris Weidman, 33
Xiao Yang Liu, 26
Luan Chagas, 24

JUNE 18

Assuerio Silva, 43
Matt Baker, 33
Kwan Ho Kwak, 28

JUNE 19

Chris Seifert, 48
Savant Young, 41
Mike Swick, 38
Ann Osman, 31

JUNE 20

Roy Nelson, 41
Marion Reneau, 40
Quinton Jackson, 39
Alex Caceres, 29
Logan Nail, 28

JUNE 21

Marcos Oliveira, 39
Erick Silva, 33
Jake Lindsey, 31

JUNE 22

Randy Couture, 54
Ryushi Yanagisawa, 45
Brian Bowles, 37
Hiroshi Izumi, 35
Bethe Correia, 34
Douglas Silva de Andrade, 32
Dave Morgan, 32
Bradley Scott, 28
Taila Santos, 24

JUNE 23

Charles “Mask” Lewis (1963-2009)
Rob Wince, 44
Marcos Galvao, 36
Nick Thompson, 36
Paul Ruiz, 30
Mark Striegl, 29

JUNE 24

Junior Assuncao, 36
Jessamyn Duke, 31
Brendan O'Reilly, 30
Brian Camozzi, 26

JUNE 25

Yoshihiro Nakao, 45
Alexey Oleynik, 40
Luciano Azevedo, 36
Carlo Prater, 36
Marcelo Guimaraes, 34
Marcos Rogerio de Lima, 32
Rob Font, 30
Jung Kyung Lee, 29
Andre Fili, 27

JUNE 26

Pawel Nastula, 47
Virgil Zwicker, 35
Eddie Wineland, 33
Faith Van Duin, 31

JUNE 27

Mu Bae Choi, 47
Yoshinori Suzuki, 36
Joe Taimanglo, 33

JUNE 28

Sam Hoger, 37
DaMarques Johnson, 35
Brennan Ward, 29
Johnny Case, 28

JUNE 29

Shin Kochiwa, 37
Ryo Kawamura, 36
Mike Whitehead, 36
Cody East, 29
Jimmie Rivera, 28
Rose Namajunas, 25

JUNE 30

Fabiano Scherner, 45
Gilbert Yvel, 41
Katja Kankaanpaa, 36
Dan Miller, 36
Zach Makovsky, 35