Carla Esparza is the first UFC Strawweight (SW/115 pound) champion as well as the first Invicta FC SW champion. Esparza is a life-long wrestler and has built her entire MMA game around her wrestling and BJJ. That said, Esparza has terrible stand-up skills. Her striking technique, distance management and defensive mechanisms on the feet are extremely rudimentary.
Esparza won the inaugural SW season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) and was awarded the UFC SW title. She lost her UFC strap in her very first title defence against current UFC SW champion, Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Jedrzejczyk dominated Esparza and beat her from pillar-to-post, handing Esparza a lesson in striking and a technical-knockout defeat in the process.
Trending
Esparza had done a decent job avoiding the stand-up exchanges in most of her previous fights, and the fighters that she had faced were either too inexperienced or fellow-grapplers who didn’t capitalise on Esparza’s rudimentary striking.
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
Esparza returned to the Octagon beating low-ranked UFC SW Juliana Lima by way of decision. Esparza is currently scheduled to face the up-and-coming Randa Markos at UFC’s February event in Halifax.
Esparza, unlike most other fighters on our list, is a smart fighter. However, like most others on our list, although she has a decent all-round MMA game, she doesn’t excel at any one avenue in particular. Besides at the time of her reign as the UFC SW champ (one fight, to be precise), the UFC SW division mainly consisted of grapplers such as Jessica Penne and Juliana Lima or then-inexperienced fighters such as Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres.
Considering the aforementioned factors, it isn’t all too surprising that the ‘Cookie Monster’ takes the cherry, or should I say cookie, of our list.
From one-dimensional grapplers to lazy fighters like the ‘Maine-iac’ Tim Sylvia, the Octagon has been witness to several MMA fighters that have held the throne in their respective weight-classes despite lacking the skill-set to do so. Nevertheless, these UFC champions did something that most mortals can only dream of, and that is stepping inside the Octagon and ascending to the throne. These champions can proudly claim that they were once ‘Kings’ and ‘Queens’ of the world’s top MMA promotion.
