Carla Esparza confirms retirement fight against Tecia Pennington at UFC 307: "I feel it's time to hang up the gloves"

Former two-time UFC women's strawweight champion Carla Esparza will retire later this year. Her swansong will take place at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City against Tecia Pennington.

The 36-year-old broke the news on Instagram, writing:

"I will be stepping into the UFC octagon on Saturday, Oct. 5th for the final time. After almost 15 years as a professional, fighting the best of the best, I feel like it's time to hang up my gloves. This choice is made for my body and family, 20 plus years doing combat sports take its toll."

Esparza holds a pro record of 19-7. The most notable of her accomplishments is her pair of title-winning victories over fellow two-time strawweight champion Rose Namajunas.

Furthermore, she also has a win over the current pound-for-pound No.1 women's fighter in the UFC, Alexa Grasso. 'Cookie Monster' was on a six-fight win streak before losing the 115-pound title to Zhang Weili at UFC 281 in 2022.

Esparza's final opponent, Pennington, is 13-7 in her MMA career. Notably, they squared off on 'The Ultimate Fighter' nearly a decade ago, when the former won via decision.

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Carla Esparza dubs fight against Alexa Grasso as one of the "toughest" of her career

One of the most controversial wins of Carla Esparza's career is her majority decision win over Alexa Grasso at UFC Fight Night 159 in 2019. Grasso is the reigning flyweight and pound-for-pound queen but was far from title contention five years ago.

At the Mexico City Arena, 'Cookie Monster' was perfectly implementing her game plan. She outstruck and out-grappled her opponent for two straight rounds and was en route to victory.

However, things went awry in the final round. Grasso rocked her on the feet and managed to lock in a perfect armbar. Despite her arm being clearly hyper-extended, Esparza expertly spun out of it, survived the round, and got her hand raised via majority decision, much to the dismay of the Mexican crowd in attendance.

The duo notably won Fight of the Night honors for their back-and-forth three-rounder. Speaking about the aftermath of the win in a career retrospective video on the UFC's YouTube channel, Esparza said:

"I got booed and like some fan poured beer on my head. I don't think the crowd was happy about the fight just because she had such a dominant third round, but you know hats off to her... It was definitely one of my toughest fights."

Watch Carla Esparza narrate her experience of fighting Alexa Grasso below: