För lite mer än en vecka sedan fick vi bevittna Carla Esparza skriva MMA-historia genom att fånga det första stråviktsbältet för kvinnor i UFC och nu har det äntligen börjat landa.
Den forna Invicta-mästaren som var toppseedad i The Ultimate Fighter huset delade med sig av sina tankar under måndagen om pressen att gå titel match som nästan blev för mycket att hantera.
”I was extremely nervous as for every fight, but definitely this one had a lot of pressure riding on it,” sa Carla till MMA fighting. ”Especially because not only was it a UFC fight, but there was so much build-up and I was such an underdog. Just being the number-one seed, I just felt like I really wanted to perform out there. I definitely felt the pressure on this one. It was actually very taxing on me mentally preparing for this fight. In the cage I brought it all together and came home with the gold.”
Man kan undra varför Carla Esparza var underdog inför titelmatchen mot Rose Namajunas med tanke på att hon var toppseedad i TUF-huset och var stråviktsmästare i Invicta. Esparza gav sin synpunkt på det hela.
”I guess a lot people would think that’s a little bit insulting, but for me, I don’t find that as an insult at all. I find it more as really giving Rose credit for submitting opponents. She was the only one who had more than one finish on the show. She submitted three of the best strawweights in the world and she displayed great striking. It doesn’t surprise me that she was rated as the top fighter and I was the underdog, just based off of her performances.”
Härnäst ser det ut som att Esparza kommer få försvara sin titel för första gången mot Joanna Jedrzejczyk som besegrade Claudia Gadelha i sin senaste match under UFC on Fox 13.
