Carla Esparza reacts to dull UFC 274 title fight: “Nobody wants to see a fight like that”
UFC women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza reacted to her dull UFC 274 title fight, saying that “nobody wants to see a fight like that.”
Esparza defeated Rose Namajunas via split decision to reclaim the women’s 115lbs title, nearly eight years after first beating Namajunas to become the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight champion. However, the fight has been heavily criticized by fans, media, and fellow fighters for being a snoozefest. Neither Esparza nor Namajunas seemed to want to engage in any action, which led to a very dull 25-minute encounter that some people are calling the worst title fight in UFC history. While Esparza did enough to get her hand raised, she also knows that it was not a good fight and she recognizes that.
Speaking to MMAjunkie.com following her victory at UFC 274, Esparza admitted that it was a bad fight, and said that she is disappointed that she was not able to put on a better show for the fans.
“Nobody wants to see a fight like that, nobody wants to be part of a fight like that. I hate that I couldn’t put on a show for the fans,” Esparza said. “I hadn’t fought in front of a crowd since 2019 because of COVID. I was excited to go back in front of the crowd and put on a show. I was envisioning in my head, ‘We’re going to get Fight of the Night.’ Like this is the performance. We’re going to show up like we did the first time, but it’s just going to be a higher-skilled version of that fight and that’s what I was looking forward too.”
Although it was a boring fight, Esparza at least got the judges’ decision and reclaimed the women’s strawweight belt, and it likely sets her up for another big fight at women’s 115lbs later this year. Let’s just hope that the next time she steps into the cage, it’s a much better fight than this one was.
Where do you rank Carla Esparza vs. Rose Namajunas 2 among the worst UFC title fights of all time?
