Former two-time UFC women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza could be set to let her hair down inside the Octagon this weekend.
Saturday’s UFC 307 pay-per-view event boasts a number of notable storylines, one of which comes on the early preliminary card in the form of a retirement fight for one of the female roster’s all-time greats.
Having not competed since having her second reign on the 115-pound throne ended by Zhang Weili in late 2022 — after which she became pregnant — Esparza will feel the Octagon floor beneath her feet one final time.
To exit the sport on a win, “Cookie Monster” is tasked with once again getting the better of Tecia Pennington, whom she outpointed during season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter back in 2014.
And to do so, Esparza might be digging deep into her ‘toolbox’ of offensive weaponry.
Esparza Willing To Embrace ‘Risk’ For Farewell Fight
During a recent interview with MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn, Esparza looked ahead to her final walk to the Octagon this weekend in Salt Lake City.
When asked whether she’s planning to showcase anything new that she’s been holding back, the former champ admitted she has plenty of ‘risky’ moves that could come out now that her sights aren’t set on regaining the strawweight gold.
“I have so many fun tools in my toolbox that I haven’t gotten display,” Esparza said. “I’ve always had the mentality in my fights where I want to win but I don’t want to be so risky. Because, you know, the goal is always to move up toward the title fight, and in order to do that, you need wins.
“I just had things that I didn’t necessarily want to show but I had in my pocket if I did need to,” Esparza continued. “You never know how the fight’s going to go, but I would love the chance to kind of just have fun out there, do some cool moves that I haven’t gotten to show in fights before.”
Regardless of the result on Saturday night, Esparza will go down as one of the most successful women to compete under the UFC banner. But she’ll still hope to cap off her career with one last triumph at the expense of Pennington.
