Carla Esparza herself wants to make it clear that it is still not her time, and she is not retired yet.
The statement came after some rumors suggested that the female fighter had finally exited the cage. One particular post that ignited the belief is the announcement from the MMA tracker account UFC Roster Watch revealing that Esparza had been removed.
“The Cookie Monster” hasn’t fought since her match with Zhang Weili, who defeated her via submission in November 2022. This snapped the six-fight winning streak she had gained from the big names in the UFC roster, including Xiaonan Yan, Rose Namajunas, and Alexa Grasso. With this, some might think that the loss could be the reason behind her removal.
Esparza, however, clarified that she was “maybe” removed due to inactivity, adding she hasn’t retired yet. According to the former two-time UFC women’s strawweight champion, she is also still recovering from the effects of her childbirth, which might “increase the chance of injury during training.”
“I keep receiving messages so I wanted to clear it up,” Esparza wrote on Instagram. “Maybe I was removed for inactivity. I am slowly biding my time and building my body and pelvic floor back up according to my PT’s recommendation. During the postpartum period there is relaxin and progesterone in the joints and their surrounding structures (especially since I am exclusively breastfeeding) which causes a slackening of the ligaments and can greatly increase the chance of injury during training.
“Just trying to have an intelligent approach to my comeback and do everything in my power to avoid an injury setback.”
