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Carla Esparza is the current UFC strawweight Champion. 'The Cookie Monster' is an American MMA fighter who was born and raised in California. However, Esparza is of Mexican, Ecuadorian, and Irish descent.
She is part Ecuadorian from her mother's side, who was born and raised there. She often represents the country's flag as a tribute to her mother.
Esparza is currently preparing to defend her title against Zhang Weili at UFC 281 on November 12, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The fight will act as the co-main event for Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira. This means there will be 2 titles on the line during the event. Weili got a chance to challenge for the title after she knocked out the former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 274.
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Carla Esparza was not initially looking to return to the Octagon in 2022 after suffering injuries. However, she has been able to recover and will return to the octagon earlier than expected. Weili Zhang, on the other hand, has been looking to get her hands on the strawweight belt that she had lost to Rose Namajunas.
Carla Esparza on her controversial win against Rose Namajunas
Carla Esparza last fought in May this year as she looked to dethrone Rose Namajunas and become a 2-time strawweight champion. The fight took place at Phoenix, Arizona in the UFC 274 card. Overall, the fight lacked action and both fighters were not pressing for action. The crowd at the arena kept booing the fighters.
During her post-fight interview, Joe Rogan asked the champion why 'nothing happened' during the fight. She responded by saying:
"Yeah it's really hard you never wanna be a part of a fight like that, you wanna have a good fight for the crowd but you know, I went out there, I did my best, I tried to come forward as much as I could but hey I got the W (win) so that's what counts."
Carla Esparza then went on to marry her husband the very next week. 'The Cookie Monster' is looking to assert her dominance in the division and establish herself as a true champion.
Take a look at the video:
