Carla Esparza, the first-ever UFC Strawweight Champion and a fighter who remained one of the 115-pound division’s contenders for nearly a decade, has retired from MMA.
Esparza officially called an end to her career following a unanimous decision loss against Tecia Pennington at UFC 307 on Saturday night.
“It’s been an amazing journey these last 15 years,” Esparza said in her post-fight interview. “I’ve fought the best of the best. It’s not always easy, there’s ups and downs in this sport, but I wouldn’t have done it any other way.”
36-year-old Esparza started in MMA back in 2010, taking up the sport after competing as a wrestler in high school and college. She spent the early years of the 2010s fighting around America, meeting MMA pioneers like Jessica Aguilar and Megumi Fujii.
Esparza fought on some of the early cards from women’s MMA promotion Invicta FC, defeating Bec Rawlings in 2013 to become their first strawweight champ.
By 2014, Esparza was among a wave of strawweight fighters signed to the UFC as the promotion launched its own division for the weight class. She competed in “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 20, a special edition of the show that would crown the promotion’s first-ever champion at 115 pounds.
After getting past three fighters who remain big names in the division, Angela Hill, Tecia Torres and Jessica Penne, Esparza defeated Rose Namajunas via third-round submission to capture the belt. She dropped the title a few months later to Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Esparza remained one of the division’s top names for years to come. Many years after her first title run, Esparza put together a five-fight winning streak that earned her another crack at the belt by 2022.
Meeting the same fighter she faced in her first title bout, Namajunas, Esparza won via split decision after five rounds to start a title reign eight years following her initial run. After losing the belt in late 2022 to Zhang Weili, Esparza stepped away from the sport to give birth to her son.
Knockdown News 