UFC 307 goes down in Salt Lake City on October 5th. We’ve really started to see the card fill out over the past couple of days and yesterday we learned about a really fun strawweight fight that’ll be on the card. MMA Junkie was the first to report that former champion Carla Esparza (19-7) will be returning for the first time since having her baby to take on top contender Tecia Torres (13-7).
Like Esparza, Torres also recently returned after having a baby. Torres returned at UFC St. Louis following two years away and she took on Tabatha Ricci. It was a very close fight but Torres lost by split decision. It was her second straight loss by split decision. Prior to those back-to-back losses, she had won three fights in a row to get herself back into contention.
UFC 307 Retirement
Carla Esparza’s return marked the return of one of the best strawweights in the division. A former two-time champion, but it’s not a permanent return. Esparza announced on her Instagram that this fight in October will be her retirement fight. The Cookie Monster isn’t interested in making another run to the top, she just wants to go out on her terms.
Esparza made history as the first UFC strawweight champion when she defeated Rose Namajunas on The Ultimate Fighter back in 2014 which crowned the first strawweight champion. Esparza lost in her first title defense and then had a few years of up and down results.
Between 2019 and 2021, Esparza really took off again. She won five fights in a row including a dominant stoppage over Yan Xiaonan to earn a title shot. Her title shot was a rematch against Rose Namajunas who had regained the strawweight title. The fight wasn’t great, but Esparza was able to win a decision to regain the UFC strawweight title. After losing to Zhang Weili in her first title defense, she took time off to start her family. Now, she is returning for one final time.