Carla Esparza believes Zhang Weili is ‘underestimating’ her at UFC 281 (Video)
By Alec Arritola
At UFC 281 media day, Carla Esparza spoke about how she feels as an underdog, her admiration for Frankie Edgar, and how she believes that Zhang Weili is underestimating her ahead of their UFC 281 championship bout.
The co-main event of UFC 281: Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira features a strawweight showdown between reigning champion Carla Esparza and former champion Zhang Weili. Since her previous win over Rose Namajunas at UFC 274: Charles Oliveira vs. Justin Gaethje, where Esparza came in as a significant underdog, she once again enters a title fight against a heavy favorite.
“I think that she underestimated Rose as she’s doing me,” Esparza said when asked about Weili’s previous losses to Namajunas at UFC 261 and UFC 268. “And yeah, I think she kind of wasn’t expecting that from Rose and Rose just brought her best game like I’m planning to do.”
Esparza also touched on how she has developed since her previous championship fights.
Carla Esparza was the inaugural UFC strawweight champion after winning The Ultimate Fighter in 2014, where she defeated Angela Hill, Tecia Torres, Jessica Penne and Rose Namajunas
“I feel that I’ve definitely gotten a lot stronger,” Esparza told reporters when asked about her progress since her first title fight with Namajunas for the inaugural UFC strawweight championship.
“I put a lot of size on working with the UFC [Performance Institute]. I changed my mindset. I worked really hard on that. I’ve even been reading during this week and going through a lot of changes like thinking more positively and having more belief in myself. I worked on a lot of skills. You know going back to being a beginner, a beginner in classes and relearning things and just constantly trying to evolve.”
Esparza was also asked about her feelings on sharing the card with Frankie Edgar, who is expected to retire after his fight at UFC 281.
“Frankie’s one of my favorite fighters of all time, probably my favorite. It’s been great watching him fight and kind of move through the weight classes to I mean,” Esparza said.
“I’ve always found inspiration from him because he was kind of like, the little guy going into the fights and I feel like that’s kind of been me and he has seen wrestling and and striking so it has kind of been a great person to, to kind of just, like, look almost like a hero in the sport to watch over the years.”
Next. UFC 274: Pros react to Carla Esparza defeating Rose Namajunas. dark