Carla Esparza hoping for future UFC Hall of Fame induction ahead of retirement fight: “That would be so cool”

Ahead of her final fight, former UFC women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza is thinking about her legacy.

‘Cookie Monster’ hasn’t been seen in the cage since her title defense against Weili Zhang in November 2022. Just a few months after upsetting Rose Namajunas to re-win UFC gold, Carla Esparza faced ‘Magnum’. Ultimately, it took only two rounds for the Chinese fighter to score a stoppage win to earn the title.

Since then, Carla Esparza hasn’t focused a lot on her fighting career. A few months after losing to Zhang, she announced that she was pregnant. Last September, Esparza gave birth to her first child, a son. While having a child is exciting to the former champion, it did force her to make a tough decision.

Carla Esparza is slated to face Tecia Pennington this Saturday night at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City. Ahead of her return, ‘Cookie Monster’ has stated that the bout will be her last. For her part, ‘The Tiny Tornado’ enters this contest on a two-fight losing streak, last dropping a decision to Tabatha Ricci in May.

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Carla Esparza hoping for UFC Hall of Fame induction ahead of final fight

Speaking in a recent interview with Brian Campbell, Carla Esparza opened up on her career. There, the former UFC women’s strawweight champion admitted that she was hoping for a future Hall of Fame induction. As a former two-time titleholder, it’s hard to argue that Esparza’s resume doesn’t deserve some shine.

“I’d love to eventually be in the Hall of Fame. I mean, that would be so cool,” Carla Esparza said. “I think winning the title the first time was like seeing where I was as a fighter then to where I am now; there’s been so much growth.” (h/t MMA News)

She continued, “I mean, you have to grow to still stay in this division with all these killers. Everyone is so good, and there’s young blood constantly coming through the UFC. You have to be at such a high level even just to compete with these people, so it’s cool to have been able to stay at this high level and compete with all these youngsters coming in.”

What do you make of these comments from Carla Esparza? Do you think she deserves to be in the UFC Hall of Fame?