UFC 225 just landed a major strawweight grudge match. Two-time title contender Claudia Gadelha will face off with former champion Carla Esparza at UFC 225 at the United Center in Chicago on June 9. UFC officials confirmed the new matchup on Wednesday n…
UFC 225 just landed a major strawweight grudge match. Two-time title contender Claudia Gadelha will face off with former champion Carla Esparza at UFC 225 at the United Center in Chicago on June 9. UFC officials confirmed the new matchup on Wednesday night. JUST ANNOUNCED: @ClaudiaGadelha_ takes on @CarlaEsparza1 in the Windy City at #UFC225?? […]
UFC 219 closed out the year for the world’s leading MMA promotion, and while their weren’t many finishes to speak of, fighters like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Cris “Cyborg” turned in stellar if not career-defining performances. From Nurmagomedov’s absolute domination of Edson Barboza to what could have been Carlos Condit’s last fight, let’s break down what […]
UFC 219 closed out the year for the world’s leading MMA promotion, and while their weren’t many finishes to speak of, fighters like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Cris “Cyborg” turned in stellar if not career-defining performances.
From Nurmagomedov’s absolute domination of Edson Barboza to what could have been Carlos Condit’s last fight, let’s break down what we’re left with after another night of fights.
Photo: Tom Szczerbowski for USA TODAY Sports
5. Carla Esparza Isn’t Done At The Top
Former women’s flyweight champion Carla Esparza may be several years removed from being a title holder, but on Saturday she proved she’s still a top contender at 115 pounds.
”The Cookie Monster” took the fight to Cynthia Carrillo, who entered the bout as the prohibitive favorite. Esparza used her wrestling and savvy veteran know-how to get past Carrillo, who was clearly the bigger fighter between the two.
And Esparza holds a submission win over the current women’s flyweight champ Rose Namajunas from back in 2014, and with the woman who brutally took the belt from Esparza out of the picture for now, any victory could put her in the title mix at 115 pounds.
We all know that the UFC has some fighters that it favors more than others. The UFC does not particularly do a good job at hiding this. One example of this – they privately flew out a star chef so he can make hot wings for Rhonda Rousey to celebrate, but then they ostracized Holy […]
We all know that the UFC has some fighters that it favors more than others. The UFC does not particularly do a good job at hiding this. One example of this – they privately flew out a star chef so he can make hot wings for Rhonda Rousey to celebrate, but then they ostracized Holy Holm in public for no good reason. Dana White, like it or not, has some preferences in terms of fighters.
In the women’s fight divisions, Rose Namajunas was another one of the UFCs pet fighters. Her fixtures were lined up and planned in such a way that her career would grow and she would become the first strawweight champion in the UFC. However, thanks to Carla Esparza, things did not exactly go as planned for Namajunas. She was defeated fair and square by Esparza and the only thing the UFC could do was hide Namajunas under the proverbial bed.
Esparza then went on to UFC 185 to defend her strawweight title, but she lost to Joanna Jedrzejczykand the UFC pretty much decided to give her a hard time after this. For her next fight, she was put in the middle of the bout somewhere, but she was able to take a satisfying victory in UFC 197 to mark her bounce back from loss.
She will now take on Calvillo who holds a record of 6-0 in her pro career. Esparza is a little too seasoned for Calvillo and should be able to take victory here.
There are many worthy candidates for the best female fighter in 2017. But Cynthia Calvillo is the current front-runner for the honor. Calvillo would move to 5-0 in the past 12 months if she can get past former UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza Sat…
There are many worthy candidates for the best female fighter in 2017. But Cynthia Calvillo is the current front-runner for the honor. Calvillo would move to 5-0 in the past 12 months if she can get past former UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza Saturday night at UFC 219. The 30-year-old from San Jose currently trains […]
Carla Esparza isn’t clamoring for another shot at gold just yet. Esparza is the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) strawweight champion. She lost the title in her first defense against Joanna Jędrzejczyk back in March 2015. The “Cookie Monster” is coming off a unanimous decision win over Maryna Moroz at UFC Fight Night 112. Speaking to the […]
Carla Esparza isn’t clamoring for another shot at gold just yet. Esparza is the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) strawweight champion. She lost the title in her first defense against Joanna J?drzejczyk back in March 2015. The “Cookie Monster” is coming off a unanimous decision win over Maryna Moroz at UFC Fight Night 112. Speaking to the […]
At UFC Fight Night 105 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on Sunday evening, Randa Markos made quite a statement. After three rounds of a hard fought battle, Markos picked up the split decision victory over former UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Esparza with scores of 28-29, 29-28 and 29-28 in the fight positioned as the co-main […]
At UFC Fight Night 105 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on Sunday evening, Randa Markos made quite a statement. After three rounds of a hard fought battle, Markos picked up the split decision victory over former UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Esparza with scores of 28-29, 29-28 and 29-28 in the fight positioned as the co-main […]
