Carla Esparza is hoping her title defense against Zhang Weili can erase the criticism of her most recent fight.
Esparza (19-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) dethroned Rose Namajunas to capture the strawweight title at UFC 274 in May. It was a close decision win, but a lackluster fight overall that had little action.
Beating Namajunas (11-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC) for a second time is a major feat, but Esparza knows the judgement surrounding their fight has overshadowed the accomplishment. However, when she enters the first title defense of her second title reign against Weili (22-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 281 co-main event, she wants to rectify that wrong.
“It’s definitely a bummer to win a fight like that,” Esparza said in an interview on Morning Kombat. “Winning a title – that’s always going to be a good day, right? Winning any fight (is good). Not being able to just have, like, this strong performance or this strong finish or just show all the work that you’ve been putting in camp, it is a bummer. And obviously, the fans were disappointed. It did definitely put a little bit of a cloud over the win, but that’s the right I can make in this fight. I’m excited to put it all on the line.”
Esparza tried to press the action against Namajunas at times, but Namajunas was uncharacteristically tentative.
“It is what it is,” Esparza said. “You had these kind of two conflicting game plans, I guess. Of course I wanted to go forward, and I think that I did, but I wasn’t going to be reckless with a fighter like Rose, who’s basically like a sharpshooter when it comes to knockouts. I think she was kind of waiting for me to lose my patience and get wild, which didn’t happen. Rose and I have together in our first fight and in just the past have put on a lot of exciting fights.”
UFC 281 takes place Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 281.
