Who was the first woman to beat Carla Esparza in professional MMA?

Before finally becoming UFC strawweight champion, Carla Esparza had mixed success in her professional MMA career. Megumi Fujii was the first woman to beat Esparza, with the Japanese fighter being well-respected in the MMA world.

The loss clearly carried no shame, with Fujii having a 20-0 record at the time of the bout. Esparza lost via submission at Bellator 24 after being caught in an armbar in the second round. 'Mega Megu' finished her MMA career with an impressive 26-3 record and was 22-0 before losing to Zoila Frausto at Bellator 34 in 2010.

Carla Esparza has only lost six times during her professional MMA career in total. Jessica Aguilar, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Randa Markos, Cláudia Gadelha and Tatiana Suarez have all managed to beat the current UFC strawweight champion.

'The Cookie Monster' is in the best form of her career, winning her last six bouts in the UFC. Esparza won the women's strawweight belt after scoring a split decision victory against Rose Namajunas at UFC 274: Oliveira vs. Gaethje.

Watch the full fight highlights here:

Both Rose Namajunas and Carla Esparza failed to impress during the title fight, with neither woman committing to any attacks. However, Esparza has beaten Virna Jandiroba, Alexa Grasso, Michelle Waterson-Gomez, Marina Rodriguez, Xiaonan Yan and Namajunas in back-to-back bouts.

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Who is Carla Esparza fighting next?

Carla Esparza is scheduled to face the always tough Weili Zhang at UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira in November. As mentioned, 'The Cookie Monster' is in great form, but Zhang looked great against Joanna Jędrzejczyk in her latest outing.

The Chinese fighter managed to knockout Jędrzejczyk via a spinning backfist in round two at UFC 275: Teixeira vs. Procházka. 'Magnum' was on a two-fight losing streak after suffering back-to-back defeats against Rose Namajunas.

Esparza will have a sizeable height disadvantage when facing Zhang, standing 8 cm shorter than the Chinese fighter. However, both women have the same reach, so despite Zhang's natural striking advantage, 'The Cookie Monster' shouldn't struggle with range.

The 34-year-old UFC champion isn't known for finishing fights and will likely look to turn her bout against Zhang into a grappling contest to avoid Zhang's dominant striking.