Keeler: UFC fighter Rose Namajunas fighting to save Metro Denver’s largest dog park. “This space is really special to me”

WESTMINSTER — Her rock is 28 pounds of Red Bull on four legs — one part husky, one part lab, one part funny car. Mishka, 11, moves like a comet in the grass, blessed with a gorgeous blond mane that fades into cream from the eyes to the nose.

But you know what’s crazy? For a dog whose default mode is sprinting with reckless abandon, Rose Namajunas’ most cherished memory might be the time when Mishka lay perfectly still.

“Let’s just say I spent the night in my car, sleeping with her, and just her,” Namajunas, the Westminster-based UFC fighter recalled as we walked the lush, blustery Westminster Hills Open Space off-leash zone this past Friday. “Like a ‘What are we going to do’ kind of a thing, you know?”

Sunshine draws a crowd. Your best friends are the ones who stick around through the lowest of lows, when the skies are darkest, when the rain tastes like salty tears.

UFC fighter Rose “Thug” Namajunas throws a rock into a canal for her dog, Mishka at the Westminster Hills Open Area Dog Park in Westminster, Colorado on Friday, June 28, 2024. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)

For Namajunas, the headliner for the UFC’s return to Denver on July 13, that low came eight years ago. Drugs and wrong turns left the flyweight contender in her car, on her knees, praying, head bobbing in fog, her heart rolling onto the floor.

“She was there and she was comforting me the whole time,” Namajunas said, giving Mishka a loving scratch behind a pair of golden ears. “She helped me through that. She kept me safe, you know?

“She’s me in a dog form, really. If there’s anybody that’s gonna try to mess with me, she’s definitely gonna do her best. She’s small, but she doesn’t mess around.”

Neither does Mom. Namajunas has been keeping herself busy preparing for two tussles in early July. She’ll top the UFC card at Ball Arena in a fortnight, looking to build off a victory over Amanda Ribas this past March. But every dog has its day, and for Namajunas’ pups, Mishka and 2-year-old Rosco, it’s July 8. That’s when Westminster’s city council is expected to vote on the fate of the Westminster Hills Open Space, including a proposal that would reduce its open-leash zone by more than 90%.

“This space is really special to me because I’m willing to do whatever it takes in order to improve it and keep it nice,” Namajunas said. “Some people don’t have capable (space) and they maybe ended up with a really high-energy dog. And this is a good way for them to exercise them. I know how much it means to so many other people. That’s why I’m willing to do what I’m doing for this place.”

UFC fighter Rose “Thug” Namajunas and her dog, Mishka, at the Westminster Hills Open Area Dog Park in Westminster, Colorado on Friday, June 28, 2024. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)