Here are some facts on Carla Esparza’s MMA career, straight from the official record:
Yet when she walks to the cage for what she says will be the last fight of a 14-year MMA career at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City on Saturday, she’ll do it on the prelim portion of one of the year’s less anticipated pay-per-view events.
And it’s not as if this is one of those pre-fight retirement announcements that comes after a period of prolonged decline. Esparza was UFC strawweight champ as recently as 2022. The loss to current champ Zhang Weili that cost her the belt was her first defeat in four years. Still, her exit from the sport seems muted and unheralded.
Probably there is a lesson somewhere in here about the different types of careers a fighter can have in this sport. Plenty of fighters have created more buzz and generated more fan response (good and/or bad) without having anywhere near the actual, objective success Esparza has. There are even some who seem like they’ve gotten by almost entirely on buzz, all while stacking up losses.
Esparza has always been the other kind, one of the fighters who wins without ever drawing all that much attention to herself.
“When I think of Carla, the first word that comes to mind is sweet,” said Invicta FC president Shannon Knapp. “She’s just a very sweet, humble, hardworking, decent person. She was never the one to pound her chest and say, ‘Look at me.’”
Trouble is, this is a business that very much rewards “look at me” behavior. Seizing a share of the spotlight and forcing people to pay attention is almost part of the job description. It’s not as if Esparza doesn’t realize it, either. It’s more that it just never came naturally to her, and she was too sincere to fake it.
“I’ve just never been that person who really cares so much about getting attention,” Esparza said. “I’m not the most outspoken. I don’t really hype myself up. So maybe I don’t get as much credit as some other fighters, but at the end of the day it’s not really about the credit for me. I just love being able to do the sport and give my all to the sport. Watching how it’s grown, especially for women, that’s the reward for me.”
When considered through this lens, a lot about Esparza’s career makes more sense. The way she stands in her corner during the introduction before each fight, for instance, without a hint of emotion on her face, looking more like a person waiting her turn at the DMV than a person who’s moments away from a televised fight? That’s clearly someone who is not all that concerned with putting on a show.
Similarly, the way she was unfazed by criticism of her second UFC strawweight title win over Rose Namajunas in 2022? That’s pretty indicative of a person who’s not really worried about how she’s perceived by fans.
But as she heads into her final fight against Tecia Pennington at UFC 307, it’s hard not to pause and wonder how Esparza will be remembered.
“I would love to be known as one of the pioneers, someone who really contributed to women’s sports, women’s martial arts,” Esparza said. “We’re seeing so many women headline cards. We’re seeing so many women jump into jiu-jitsu classes into combat sports in general. So if I were to get credit for anything, I’d like it to be for playing some part of what helped bring that to fruition. That would be amazing to me.”
Will she get that credit? That’s the part that can be tough to tell in the moment. Some fighters, their careers look a lot better a few years down the road. Others fade into obscurity.
Regardless of whether or not anyone wants to applaud her for it, Esparza has an undeniable claim to UFC and women’s MMA history. She wasn’t just a UFC champion — she was the first in her division. The fact that she came back and won the title again seven years later, it’s at least rare enough to be worth remembering.
But then, maybe how fans chose to remember Esparza is their business. Enjoying the time she spent in MMA, and everything she gave to it, that’s hers. And the nice thing about being the type of person who never clamors for attention? You don’t much care when people fail to give it to you. Even if you have earned it.
