It’s been a tumultuous four-year journey for Carla Esparza. The Redondo Union High grad has reached the top of her profession, only to have it cascade on her in devastating and personal fashion.
She had become the first 115-pound champion in two major MMA promotions.
She lost the most prestigious title via a punishing TKO. Shoulder surgery afterward sidelined her nearly a year.
Inactivity forced her to go public with her dire financial situation and the embarrassing prospect of having to sell her trophy for winning a UFC reality show and championship.
Only this gold cup came in the shape of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
“Kind of, not really,” Esparza said when asked if she still has the bike. “I’m not sure. I still have it.”
Esparza said ownership of the bike depends on her performance Sunday against Randa Markos at UFC Fight Night 105 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
And unless the strawweight of conversation is her or Markos, Esparza would rather not discuss.
When asked about recent victories by strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Esparza (12-3) demurred.
“I don’t really want to talk about other fighters too much. I just want to focus on my fight,” the 29-year-old said. “I don’t really want to talk about her.”
This is how supremely focused the No. 3-ranked strawweight is for her three-rounder against Markos, who appears to be in a must-win bout after losing two of her past three.
It doesn’t hurt that a feud exists between the two more than three years after competing and living together on Season 20 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
“I feel like this fight has the possibility to get super emotional on both ends because there is bad blood there,” the former inaugural Invicta FC and UFC strawweight champ said. “I’m hoping to put out there the best Carla anyone has ever seen. A different fighter.”
The opponents, along with Esparza’s best friend Felice Herrig, quarrelled three years ago before Markos advanced in the tournament via a first-round armbar of Herrig.
Nearly two years after becoming the first Invicta FC 115-pound champ, Esparza defeated Rose Namajunas via a third-round rear naked choke at the end of 2014 to win TUF 20 and become the UFC’s first 115-pound champ.
But she never got a shot at Markos, with whom she shared a few staredowns and arguments.
“With her personality, she tends to be very passive-aggressive and does little things and says things under her breath and slams doors and takes your things and messes with you … just very, like, rude,” Esparza said. “And I don’t even know if it’s on purpose. Honestly, that’s a hard situation to be in — living, eating, sleeping next to your opponent.
“Some people need to be angry with you and need to hate you to fight you. And I think that, in my head, it might have been going on because before her and Felice were gonna fight, I thought that we were all cool. We were all friends, you know? And then she just kind of flipped the script.”
In three months, Esparza went from making history to losing her belt to Jedrzejczyk, getting picked apart on her feet and getting battered about while suffering a torn labrum in the process.
She has yet to watch the fight — her first loss in four years — and said it was almost like she wasn’t there. After fulfilling media obligations under the weight of her fifth fight in nine months counting her 3-0 run on TUF 20, Esparza said she felt mentally drained.
“Being on TUF itself is very much of a struggle. After the fact, all the media, it was just a lot to handle and I felt like I gave every last bit I had,” said Esparza, who trains with Team Oyama in Irvine. “If I was driving a car, that was like the last drop of gas, like my car was like ‘putt, putt, putt.’ And I was done after the Rose fight.”
Esparza, after several months off due to surgery, stepped up to fight Julianna Lima at UFC 197, winning a unanimous decision despite admitting to being out of shape.
But that was 10 months ago, and Esparza had to clamor for a fight. With what she said was enough in her account for two months of bills, she went on Instagram in December to offer her 2015 Harley Breakout for $19,799 or best offer.
Being vocal paid off, though it wasn’t easy.
“It’s kind of a scary thing. You don’t want to piss off your bosses,” she said with a laugh. “But I got a fight, and that’s all I care about and I’m happy.”
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