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Carla Esparza recently shed light on the importance of recovery after fights in her MMA career. Speaking to MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn, the reigning UFC strawweight champion suggested that she’d previously overlooked the significance of giving herself adequate time to recover after her fights.
‘Cookie Monster’ harked back to the first time she captured the strawweight title, beating Rose Namajunas via third-round submission in December 2014. Esparza lost the belt in her very next fight, being stopped by Joanna Jedrzejczyk via second-round TKO in March 2015. Addressing the same in the interview, Esparza stated:
“Yeah, I mean, that was definitely a big regret of my career – Going into that fight, and being rushed by the UFC into that initial fight with Joanna. And not being a 100 percent, not being ready, not having recovered fully physically.”
She added:
“And she won the fight, fair and square. I took the decision to take the fight. But the only thing I’m taking away from that is I’m learning from that, and I’m not making the same mistake twice.”
Carla Esparza, who’s currently dealing with injury issues, highlighted that she wants to fully recover before commencing fight camp for a potential matchup against former champion Zhang Weili.
‘Cookie Monster’ reiterated that she’s being patient, rather than looking to rush back to defend her belt, as she did several years ago against Jedrzejczyk.
Watch Carla Esparza address the importance of recovery after fights in her career at the 7:28-minute mark in the video below:
Michael Bisping views Zhang Weili as a huge threat to Carla Esparza
Carla Esparza is coming off a split decision victory in her rematch against Rose Namajunas, whom she beat in May of this year. Meanwhile, Zhang Weili faced Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a highly anticipated rematch earlier this month and won via second-round KO.
The former champion has called for a fight against Esparza in October. Irrespective of when the Esparza-Zhang matchup will take place, MMA legend Michael Bisping believes that the Chinese national poses a huge threat to 'Cookie Monster's' second title reign.
In an edition of the Believe You Me podcast, Michael Bisping and Anthony Smith agreed that Esparza ought to sharpen her striking skills ahead of a possible Zhang matchup.
Zhang has lost to Namajunas twice, whereas 'Thug' has lost to Esparza twice. However, many favor the Chinese national to beat Esparza. Bisping referenced this consensus and asserted that MMA math doesn’t necessarily work. Bisping explained:
"Zhang lost to Rose Namajunas twice. Carla beats Rose Namajunas and then the general consensus or the smart belief is that, 'Oh! Zhang's gonna go out there and beat the sh*t out of Carla'. That's what you gotta love about the sport, styles make fights.”
Watch the full video below:
