Rose Namajunas isn’t the only one in her family with a massive fight coming up. The former UFC strawweight champion’s older brother, Nojus, is set to make his pro-MMA debut next week.

On March 27, Namajunas, 31, joins the pro ranks at Mountain Force MMA 23 (MTF 23) in Logan, Utah.

“Most people that are 30, yeah, they’re not going to make it to the UFC,” Namajunas told MMA Junkie. “The odds are against me. I really do believe in myself and I think I can go really, really far if I’m just doing what I’m doing right now. We’ll see how far I can get, but I do have aspirations to go to the UFC and do everything that I can to get to the top.”

In 2019, Namajunas lost a split decision when making his amateur debut. In his sophomore appearance, the elder Namajunas would score a 57-second knockout thus giving him all the confidence needed to make this next step.

With his age considered, Namajunas realizes his hopes of joining his sister in the Octagon is slim, but what better motivation could you need?

At just 2-1, Rose Namajunas joined the UFC in 2014 as part of The Ultimate Fighter season 20 – the season that introduced the strawweights to the promotion. The finals of the tournament saw the finalists competing for the inaugural belt, thus pitting “Thug” against the seasoned veteran, Carla Esparza.

Esparza would go on to submit the prospect in the third round via a rear-naked choke. Three years later and Namajunas rose to superstardom by knocking out the woman to dethrone Esparza, Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

The Milwaukee native defended the title successfully once in an instant rematch with Jedrzejczyk. Dropping the title to Jessica Andrade, she would get redemption in their 2020 three-round rematch. On April 24 at UFC 261, Namajunas gets a chance to take but the title opposite current champion, Zhang Weili.