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Former strawweight champion Carla Esparza was on the receiving end of a lot of boos from the crowd in the lead up to UFC 281.
'Cookie Monster' received a negative response from the New York crowd during her appearance at the UFC 281 pre-fight press conference. The scenario did not change much on fight night.
UFC broadcaster Jon Anik recently sat down for a chat with Mike Heck where he discussed the reception Esparza received during fight week. Anik said that he was taken aback by the hostility shown by the crowd towards the former champion. According to Anik, former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya shared the same sentiment as him during the press conference.
"Sometimes you just don't know what type of people a certain event is gonna attract, right? Who exactly is it at the press conference that was so venomous in booing Carla Esparza, so much so that the non-American Israel Adesanya turned to me at one point during the press conference and was like, 'Dude, I don't get it.' And I don't really get it either."
The UFC commentator went on to praise the 'Cookie Monster' and said the two-time champion deserved to be treated better:
"obviously, it was a pro-Zhang Weili crowd. It just was crazy bro, like, she would pick up her microphone and they would just start f**king railing on her. So, certainly she deserves better than that. But the greatest thing is, it's that her peers are what matter... according to all the other fighters, she's a legend."
You can watch the full conversation below:
Carla Esparza was the inaugural UFC strawweight champion
In December 2014, Carla Esparza went toe-to-toe with Rose Namajunas in the first UFC strawweight title fight. The 35-year-old got the better of 'Thug' and defeated her with a rear-naked choke in the third round to become the inaugural strawweight champion.
'Cookie Monster' then proceeded to lose the title in her very next fight against Joanna Jędrzejczyk. Eight wins and three losses later, Esparza earned another shot at UFC gold. She shared the octagon with Namajunas for the second time at UFC 274 and defeated her for the title in a lackluster fight.
But once again, the 35-year-old's title reign was short-lived as she lost the belt ot Zhang Weili in her very next fight at UFC 281.
