Athletes
Carla Esparza Is Exiting the Sport on Her Terms
Two Time Strawweight Champion Carla Esparza Returns To The Octagon For the Final Time Against Tecia Pennington at UFC 307
It’s the little things sometimes that tell you everything about who a person is. Carla Esparza had just won the UFC strawweight title for the first time in 2014, and my editor at UFC magazine, Seth Kelly, wanted a story on her for the next issue.
Her title-winning effort over Rose Namajunas was on a Friday night. My deadline? Monday. Now making deadline from the writing end was no issue, but generally, a fighter who just won her first world title is not looking to do interviews on the weekend after a big victory.
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Esparza was the exception. And as I sat in a Barnes and Noble parking lot in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, we did the interview, and I made my deadline with time to spare.
That’s class, that’s being a pro, and just being a decent person. So when she announced that her UFC 307 bout against Tecia Pennington will be her last, it’s bittersweet, because while you want her to stick around as long as she’s able, you’re also happy that she’s leaving on top and on her own terms.
Carla Esparza | Career Retrospective
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Carla Esparza | Career Retrospective
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And that’s precisely the point.
“I'll be 37 soon (October 10) and just putting my body through so much over the years with competitive wrestling on the college level and fighting, it really takes it out of you,” Esparza said. “I feel very blessed to be walking out of this sport in one piece because being a professional athlete in any sport is not easy on your body, but fighting is especially tough. I don't want to be forced out of the sport and walk out on crutches; I just want to feel good and I want to have longevity in my life and just always have my body feel good.”
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There’s the little part about being a mom, too. And with Donovan having just turned a year old, her and her husband Matthew get to enjoy the time with their son without the grind of training camps anymore. That’s a great thing. But there’s still one more grind to go, and Esparza has been putting in the work for her meeting with Pennington, who she defeated in the quarterfinals of The Ultimate Fighter 20.
“This camp has definitely been very unique, to say the least,” said Esparza, who hasn’t fought since giving birth in 2023. “But I'll miss it, for sure. I love this sport. I love the camp. I love the camp life. It's rough, but it's this intense grind; it's hard to replicate it with anything else.”
It has to be even harder knowing that she still has something to give. Her last fight in November of 2022 saw her second reign as champion end at the hands of Zhang Weili, but two fights ago, she was beating Namajunas a second time for the belt. That was the cap on a six-fight winning streak from 2019 to 2022. In other words, Esparza is still relevant at 115 pounds. But it was time.
“I think it's about not just giving something up, but it's choosing my family and choosing my body,” Esparza said. “Of course, I wish I could do it forever and I wish I didn't have to sleep, and I could just be there for everyone and do it all. But you can't give 100% to everything. There's just not that much to give and I don't look at it as giving up early on the sport. I just know when the time is to close this chapter and I’m feeling in a good place about it. I won’t want to be forced out and I don't want to make people cringe to watch me leave the sport like, ‘Ooh, that's hard to watch one of our favorites get beat up like that fight after fight. It's hard to watch.”
It is, but in Esparza’s case, we just get to watch her take a victory lap this week and then go get into one last fight on Saturday. It’s the perfect way to end a career to be proud of. Two world championships. An Ultimate Fighter title. An Invicta FC title. And wins over Namajunas (twice), Nina Nunes, Felice Herrig, Alexa Grasso, Michelle Waterson, Marina Rodriguez and Yan Xiaonan, just to name a few. But as is her custom, she’s taking this fight as seriously as she’s taken all the others.
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“I'm really trying not to get too sentimental,” Esparza said. “I'm trying to focus. I have a job to do and this is a fight. I am going through my closet, though and I'm thinking I'm going to bring my Invicta shirt; I'm bringing a couple of my TUF shirts to wear. It's been a wild ride, but I'm really trying not to think too hard on it. There's no crying in fight camp.”
We’d forgive her if there was a tear or two shed; she’s earned it. But the big question is, if she looks spectacular against Pennington this weekend and feels like a million bucks, will this be the shortest retirement on record?
“No,” Esparza says without hesitation. “Even if I came out and had a ten second knockout, I'd just be like, this is an awesome way to go out, but I'm ready for the next chapter. I'm ready to hang it up. It's been an awesome journey, but for my body and my family life, I think it's the right call to make right now.”
UFC 307: Pereira vs Rountree Jr., took place live from Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 5, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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