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4th December 2016
04:30pm GMT
Esparza has fallen on hard times of late. The first-ever UFC women's strawweight champion was out of action for a 13-month period after having shoulder surgery in 2015.
After losing her belt to Polish powerhouse Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 185, 'the Cookie Monster' sat on the sidelines trying to get back to full fitness from the procedure. Since she was unable to fight, she wasn't earning anything from her profession and recently she was forced to sell the motorcycle she won on that historic season of The Ultimate Fighter in order to pay the bills. She finally returned to the Octagon in April 2016 where she scored a unanimous decision win over Juliana Lima in a bout she took on short notice. She's been eagerly looking to book another fight, but the only offer she received was a showdown with perpetual title contender Claudia Gadelha. According to Esparza, she wanted a different opponent first so she shake out all that ring rust before taking on her bitter rival. The Brazilian, who at the time of writing doesn't have a fight booked, didn't take too kindly to Esparza refusing to accept the challenge. She let Esparza know exactly how she felt about the situation with a passionate post on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/BNk-v4PD5uO/ These two warriors have previous. Although they have never fought each other inside the cage before, it wasn't for the lack of trying. When Esparza held the Invicta Fighting Championships strawweight belt, she was booked to face Gadelha twice. However, both times the Brazilian withdrew from the bout. The first time they were set to do battle at Invicta 4, Gadelha broke her nose in training. Their scheduled bout at Invicta 7 was scrapped altogether after Dadelha suffered a bacterial infection the day of the fight. Esparza was quick to point out these two instances in her response to Gadelha, while also mentioning the fact that she went through the slog of the Ultimate Fighter in order to capture the title, while Gadelha decided to sit it out. https://www.instagram.com/p/BNlO8aeBGfX/Explore more on these topics:
