Carla Esparza lost her strawweight title as she suffered a second-round submission defeat by Zhang Weili at UFC 281.
The American was unpopular despite being in her home country due to her grinding fight style, which is not as fan-friendly as Weili's more hard-hitting approach. The Chinese fighter, who was the strawweight champion once before, is popular with supporters and felt that as they made their voices heard at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Esparza appeared willing to exchange with Zhang early in the first round, but neither woman could get much off during the opening stanza. When the fight did get to the ground the former champion went for the submission and almost had it, but was unable to secure a first-round finish.
