UFC fighter Rose Namajunas slams communism as much as she slams her opponents and not in a figurative way. The strawweight fighter has made it clear that she’s diametrically opposed to communism, and figuring out why isn’t a mystery.

She has very up close and personal experience with it.

During an interview with Lithuanian National Radio and Television, the Lithuanian-American used the phrase “better dead than red” during an interview when discussing her match with upcoming Chinese fighter Zhang Weili. This sparked some controversy since Weili is the “red” in this instance, but Namajunas isn’t backing down.

Confronted about it by ESPN, Namajunas doubled down, explaining that while she doesn’t hate Weili personally, her family has dealt with communism and she is not friendly with the oppressive and failed system.

“My opinions are based on my experiences,” she said on “Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show.” “It’s not something I looked up on YouTube. This is an actual reference to a documentary. If you’re confused about any of my opinions, you can watch the documentary, and you could get a good idea as to what my family had to go through, the reason I’m in the United States today, the reason that I do mixed martial arts, all of that stuff.”

The documentary she’s referring to is  “The Other Dream Team” which tells the story of the Lithuanian men’s national basketball team and what they went through under Soviet rule.

“I’d probably have a really different life if it wasn’t for just everything in that documentary, how Lithuanians had to struggle with communism oppression. The reason that I brought it up and that I referenced it is because the reporter suggested that I had animosity towards past opponents, and that’s what maybe caused some motivation in those fights and that this one there’s no animosity, so maybe there’s a lack of motivation, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“No. 1, I don’t have any animosity toward anybody,” she continued. “Obviously I’m not perfect, I’m a sinner, I definitely have emotions. But when I’m fighting, there’s no emotions toward that person. It’s just an outward manifestation of my inner demons that I have to deal with every day.”

The fighter noted that this was not directed at Weili as a person.

According to MMA Junkie, the Namajunas family endured some of the worst that communism had to offer and her parents fled to the U.S. from Lithuania after living under communist Soviet rule:

Namajunas’ parents were Lithuanian immigrants who moved to the U.S. after living under communist rule in the Soviet Union. Her great grandfather was an Independent Lithuania military officer killed by the Soviets near his home. That family background is why Namajunas is fueled by politics heading into her championship fight.

Namajunas’ isn’t an uncommon story. You’ll see that many of the people who oppose and hate communism more than anyone are the people who had to live under it. Many Americans, especially younger Americans, have never had to experience it, but have a romanticized version of it implanted in their heads thanks to college professors, media, and activists. They go out and agree that the capitalist American system needs to be destroyed and communism put in its place.

But as those who have actually experienced it will tell you, there’s nothing good about the failed system and it should be resisted at every turn. Especially publicly and unapologetically.