No return plans for Carla Esparza following UFC 307 loss to Tecia Pennington: “I’m good with how I left things”

Carla Esparza Staying Retired Following UFC 307 Loss

As competitive as her fight with Tecia Pennington was, depending on who you ask, Carla Esparza told MMAFighting.com‘s Damon Martin that she is not planning to put her gloves back on.

“It’s just hard,” Esparza told MMA Fighting. “Even if I won in the first round via finish or lost a controversial decision, it’s hard to not want to go back no matter what the outcome was. I love fighting.

“But that’s the last one for me regardless. I’m just glad I went out on a good note. It would have been much sweeter to go out with my hand raised but I’d say I’m good with how I left things.”

While Esparza ends her career with back-to-back losses to Zhang Weili and Tecia Pennington, she was able to snag UFC gold a second time before calling it. She has wins over the likes of Rose Namajunas (twice) and Alexa Grasso.

Esparza recently told Brian Campbell that she would like to enter the UFC Hall of Fame. The “Cookie Monster” also said she believes she made great strides in her fighting career since becoming the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight champion back in late 2014 when she submitted Namajunas in the third round.