Carla Esparza is certain that her MMA career will be over for good when Saturday’s UFC 307 fight vs. Tecia Pennington comes to an end.
Former two-time UFC strawweight champion Esparza (19-7 MMA, 10-5 UFC) will return to competition for the first time since losing the belt to Zhang Weili at UFC 281 in November 2022. Her extended hiatus had a life-altering purpose as Esparza gave birth to her first child, Donovan, who recently celebrated his 1st birthday.
Esparza said it was always the goal to step back in the octagon after motherhood, but she didn’t know for how long. Her return vs. Pennington (13-7 MMA, 9-7 UFC) was booked in late July, and almost immediately thereafter Esparza announced it would be her retirement fight.
“Before my last fight I knew that my last fight (against Weili) could possibly be my last one, not knowing how pregnancy and labor and everything went,” Esparza told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “Ideally I wanted to have one or two more fights, and just seeing how everything has shaken out since becoming a mom, for me, one more fight seemed to make the most sense.
“A big part of it was just proving to myself that I could come back and make this happen. I absolutely love the sport. I love fighting, I love learning. I just wanted to get back to it. Just going through the camp and on top of being a mom, they both take so much dedication, so much focus, and I think it’s time to take that chapter of making a choice and giving my all to being a mom.”
An unlikely two-time UFC champion
Esparza made her MMA debut in February 2010. She went 5-2 to start her career, but then went on a tear that included becoming Invicta FC champion, winning Season 20 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series and capturing the inaugural UFC strawweight title against Rose Namajunas in December 2014.
Although Esparza would lose the belt in lopsided fashion to Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 185 in her first defense, what happened next would be the defining story of her career. Esparza spent more than seven years climbing back to the top until she was undeniable to challenge for the belt once more.
She finally got that opportunity in a rematch with Namajunas at UFC 274 in May 2022. She won a split decision in one of the most maligned championship bouts in UFC history, but she won nonetheless. And her gap of 2,612 days between UFC title reigns stands as the longest in company history.
“It was huge for me,” Esparza said. “It shows no matter how many times you fall and stumble along the way, you can still claw your way back to the top.”
Esparza sure of herself
Retirements in MMA are fickle, to put it generously, but Esparza is adamant hers will stick. The physical price of a nearly 15-year fighting career isn’t to be understated, and Esparza has taken her fair share of bumps and bruises along the way, both in and out of the cage.
She has a responsibility to her son now, and she said not even the best performance of her career would sway her decision to continue in MMA.
“I think (a great performance would) just be the cherry on top – that’ll be a great way to go out,” Esparza said. “I’d love to get a Performance (of the Night) bonus for Donovan’s scholarship fund. No matter how the fight goes, it doesn’t change the outcome of me being ready to move on from fighting. I still love it, but it’s time. It’s time for me to be a mom, and just for my body. It has had a lot of wear and tear over the years. I’m ready. I don’t want to leave this sport in a wheelchair or in a walker.”
Soaking in one last fight week
Despite preaching caution about her long-term health, Esparza, who turns 37 on Oct. 10, does not enter UFC 307 with added anxiety about what could happen once she steps in the octagon. In fact, she plans to take more risks than ever before.
“I have so many fun tools in my toolbox that I haven’t got to display,” Esparza said. “I’ve always had a mentality in my fights that I want to win my fights. I don’t want to be so risky. The goal is always to move up towards a title fight, and in order to do that you need wins. I just had things I didn’t want to show I had in my pocket if I didn’t need to. You never know how the fight is going to go, but I would love a chance to kind of just have fun out there, do some cool moves I haven’t been able to show in any fights before.”
Esparza may get plenty of chances to lay it all on the line against Pennington, whom she fought and beat before in an exhibition contest during her run to win “TUF 20.” The pair meet on Saturday’s early prelim card, which streams on ESPN+ prior to prelims on ESPNews and the main card on ESPN+ pay-per-view from Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
It’s important for “Cookie Monster” to embrace every moment of this fight week. She knows this chapter of her life is over after this, and Esparza knows she’s going to miss it.
“I feel like I’ll miss the adrenaline most, being in that cage, the rush of when you’re in that fight, and there’s no feeling like it,” Esparza said. “Getting your hand raised in success is just like – that is the best feeling in the world. It’s an accumulation of all the hard work that you’ve put in. It’s a sport of high-highs and low-lows. Feeling those high-highs is really great when you’re getting your hand raised.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
