{"id":393656,"date":"2022-06-23T14:53:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T14:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/?p=393656"},"modified":"2022-06-23T14:53:38","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T14:53:38","slug":"carla-esparza-believes-marina-rodriguez-has-proven-herself-over-zhang-weili-places-her-as-the-frontrunner-for-next-title-challenger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/carla-esparza-believes-marina-rodriguez-has-proven-herself-over-zhang-weili-places-her-as-the-frontrunner-for-next-title-challenger\/","title":{"rendered":"Carla Esparza Believes Marina Rodriguez Has &#8216;Proven Herself&#8217; Over Zhang Weili; Places Her as the Frontrunner for Next Title Challenger"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two-time UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza shared her thoughts on her potential, next opponent, after winning the strap against Rose Namajunas. The 115-pound division is an embarrassment of riches and even with the recent retirement of Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the division has an abundance of top names who can potentially scrap for the belt.<\/p>\n<p>According to Esparza, Marina Rodriguez is the most deserving candidate from this lot and she placed the Brazilian above the woman who retired Joanna Jedrzejczyk in Zhang Weili. Marina Rodriguez\u2019s rate of activity and high-level wins have impressed Esparza and she\u2019s keen that Marina Rodriguez secure the next title shot.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zA5xgdg5XxI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI don\u2019t think [Zhang] is [more deserving],\u201d Esparza told MMA Fighting. \u201cI think that Marina has won five straight, I think she\u2019s beaten top-level competition. She\u2019s been staying active, and for me, she\u2019s proven herself. She deserves a title shot. But for whatever reason, I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a lot that goes into it and Weili is getting the shot.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cFor me, I fight whoever\u2019s put in front of me, but doesn\u2019t necessarily mean I think it\u2019s fair or was the right call as far as the athlete goes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Read More: <a href=\"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/henry-is-becoming-a-master-strategist-khabib-nurmagomedovs-coach-heaps-praise-on-coach-of-the-year-candidate-henry-cejudo\/\">\u201cHenry Is Becoming a Master Strategist\u201d- Khabib Nurmagomedov\u2019s Coach Heaps Praise on Coach of the Year Candidate Henry Cejudo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Additionally, \u2018The Cookie Monster\u2019 talked about how Rodriguez has grown significantly since their fight back in 2020. Esparza edged past Rodriguez, but the Brazilian has managed to pick up a number of high-level wins since then, most recently over Amanda Ribas.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cEvery time I watch Marina, I see her getting better and better and beating top girls,\u201d Esparza said. \u201cEven having to knock somebody out twice in one fight in\u00a0Amanda Ribas. She\u2019s impressive.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aAusLep3g-A\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI definitely think she earned the title fight, and this is just the way it goes with the UFC sometimes. Whether it\u2019s marketing or whatever else the reasoning, that\u2019s just kind of how it goes, and you have to just roll with the punches.\u201d [h\/t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2022\/6\/21\/23175853\/carla-esparza-argues-marina-rodriguez-deserves-title-shot-over-zhang-weili-timeline-next-defense\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mmafighting.com<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In the eyes of many fans, it\u2019s finally time for Marina Rodriguez to make a run towards the top of the division. However, Zhang Weili\u2019s potential \u2018Knockout of the Year\u2019 might just be the marquee factor standing in her way.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two-time UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza shared her thoughts on her potential, next opponent, after winning the strap against Rose Namajunas. The 115-pound division is an embarrassment of riches and even with the recent retirement of Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the division has an abundance of top names who can potentially scrap for the belt. According to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":393657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2006],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ufc"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yebscore.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}