SALT LAKE CITY – Unlike a lot of sports retirements, particularly ones in MMA it seems, Carla Esparza said she thinks hers will stick.
Nearly 10 years ago, Esparza became an integral part of the UFC history books when she became the inaugural women’s strawweight champion with a submission of future champ Rose Namajunas. Their fight closed out the first women’s season of “The Ultimate Fighter.
And though Esparza lost the belt to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in her first attempted defense in early 2015, she went 8-3 over a six-year stretch and improbably, given the distance from her first title, she won the belt again with an upset of Namajunas. Her time between belts remains the longest in UFC history.
