Carla Esparza misplaced her strawweight title in her first title protection in opposition to Weili Zhang at UFC 281.
‘Cookie Monster’ entered the struggle on a six-fight profitable streak coming off an upset choice win over defeated champ Rose Namajunas at UFC 274. She misplaced to Zhang within the UFC 281 co-main occasion after being trapped in a rear-naked choke at 1:05 of the second spherical.
UFC 281 marked Esparza’s first title protection since March 2015 when she suffered a devastating TKO loss to Joanna Jedrzejczyk and misplaced her strawweight title at UFC 185. She has been unable to defend the belt regardless of profitable the championship two instances, with two earlier title victories over No. 1-ranked strawweight Namajunas.
Esparza issued a short assertion on Instagram following her loss to Zhang, writing: “You win some you lose some, simply a part of this harmful sport we play. No regrets, I labored onerous and did my greatest.”
Esparza will look to bounce again from her newest defeat when she returns to the Octagon subsequent 12 months.
