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Carla Esparza taps out Rose Namajunas to win first-ever UFC strawweight title
All the hype leading into Friday night's "Ultimate Fighter Finale" surrounded upstart contender Rose Namajunas, but former Invicta FC champion Carla Esparza just ignored all the talk and tapped out Namajunas via rear naked choke in the third round.
Her plan for celebrating?
"I said if I won this UFC belt, that I am going to New York and I am getting a $1,000 sundae," Esparza said with a smile.
The crowd inside the Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas was by far a pro-Namajunas population, but despite their cheers it was Esparza who stole the thunder with a one-sided performance outside of a few close moments in the first round.
After the fight, Esparza said she expected more from Namajunas, who indicated that Esparza's takedowns were just too much for her.
"She's the former Invicta champ for a reason," Namajunas said with wet eyes.
Namajunas came out of a cannon in the opening moments, looking to put together a striking attack on Esparza, but the crafty veteran just bided her time and waited for space before snagging a series of takedowns to likely take the round.
The second round saw Esparza put Namajunas down early and completely take over with a stifling ground attack, moving from half-guard to mount with under a minute to go. In the waning seconds, Esparza started opening up her strikes and bludgeoned Namujunas with a huge series of shots.
Namajunas was clearly getting tagged and eventually rolled to avoid the strikes as Esparza just upped the volume before the horn sounded, likely saving the 22-year old from a stoppage.
Esparza wasted no time doing the same in the third round, taking Namajunas down with ease.
In no time, Esparza had her legs locked and it appeared Namajunas' spirit had just seeped from her body. Esparza got her arm under Namajunas' chin, locked up her other arm and pulled back as hard as she could. Namajunas had no choice but to tap out and put a stop to the fight at 1:26 in the third round.
Following the fight, Esparza took time to dedicate her win to teammate Shane del Rosario, who passed away last year.
Esparza was the top seed going into "The Ultimate Fighter" and lived up to the billing with three straight wins to make it to the finale on Friday night. While Namajunas gained a groundswell of attention with a string of phenomenal performances on the reality show, she ran into a bull as Esparza handled the pressure and put her away to become the first-ever UFC women's strawweight title.
As Esparza left the cage she passed by Invicta FC founder and president Shannon Knapp, who greeted her former fighter with a big hug and a congratulations by adding yet another title to her already impressive resume.
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