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Carla Esparza won't be going without a fight, the UFC has made sure of that. At the UFC event of July 15, Carla Esparza was supposed to lock horns against the rising strawweight contender, Marina Rodriguez, but a positive test at Marina Rodriguez's corner made sure that the fight was canceled.
Now, per new reports on MMA Fighting, the fight has been booked again for a clash at the UFC event on July 25 in fight island.
This is great news for Carla Esparza. She has been on an interesting run in the strawweight division since losing to Tatiana Suarez back in 2018. She has amassed a total of 3 wins, which includes a massive upset win over Michelle Waterson.
Marina Rodriguez hasn't been behind herself. She has a massive hype behind her, given her undefeated record and long series of victories against high-profile fighters in the division.
If she wants to legitimize her hype, a win over Carla Esparza is mandatory. At the same time, Carla Esparza too has to make sure that she secures the win here.
Per the recent fan reception, if Carla Esparza wants to make a bid for the title, she needs to secure a win which will convince the fans. In her Waterson fight, many media outlets scored the fight against Carla Esparza. A win here can help shake off that image, a loss delegitimizes all her wins.
After the addition of Carla Esparza and Marina Rodriguez, the card goes as:
- Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio Rua
- Alex Oliveira vs. Peter Sobotta
- Alexander Gustafsson vs. Fabricio Werdum
- Nicolas Dalby vs. Jesse Ronson
- Tom Aspinall vs. Jake Collier
- Raphael Pessoa vs. Justin Tafa
- Movsar Evloev vs. Mike Grundy
- Bethe Correia vs. Pannie Kianzad
- Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Nathaniel Wood
- Ramazan Emeev vs. TBA
- Gadzhimurad Antigulov vs. Paul Craig
- Jai Herbert vs. Francisco Trinaldo
- Carla Esparza vs. Marina Rodriguez
