Cara Esparza and Tecia Pennington at UFC 307 ceremonial weigh-in Credit: Dylan Napoleone/Cageside Press
Two-time UFC women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza faced Teshia Pennington in what would be her retirement match at UFC 307.
Esparza, who also won gold with Invicta FC, won 10 years ago at The Ultimate Fighter 20, becoming the first 115-pound champion of both that promotion and the UFC. After winning the belt for the second time in 2022, Esparza lost it in his first title defense and hasn’t fought in nearly two years since then, taking time off to start a family.
Pennington stepped forward early in the opener and found a home for his right hand multiple times. Esparza also fought back, but was quickly backed up by a volley from Pennington. Pennington mixed in a low kick, then another, and she wasn’t really behind them, but overall she decided the fight. After about two minutes, things got a little dicey and both women landed. Pennington appeared to clip the former champion, but that resulted in a shot from Kara and they both went down. Esparza got on top in the ensuing scramble, dodged an upkick, and was able to get into side control.
From there, Esparza was able to land a few elbows. They briefly moved north-south before Esparza returned to side control. Moments later, Esparza nearly went for a crucifix, but Pennington trapped his leg to prevent Esparza from pinning him. Esparza soon freed the leg, but the cross no longer worked.
In the second round, Pennington practiced his outside leg kicks, being careful not to use too much force for fear of being pushed onto his back again. As a result, the first half of the round was a bit hectic with Teshia throwing kicks and pulling off weird combos. With about 90 seconds left, Pennington almost caught Esparza’s kick, but missed. And Pennington continued to pitch less. Esparza then went for a shot but ended up getting clipped, allowing Pennington to hit a few more big shots. However, Esparza took advantage of the opening and landed a crucial takedown with just over 30 seconds remaining. Fortunately for Pennington, she was able to recover quickly and negate a big takedown in a close fight.
The third round started with a very good chance that the pair would end up in a draw, depending on the judges’ scoring in the second round. Esparza’s corner kick should have secured him a takedown early in the round, but he was still unable to get one after two and a half minutes. Meanwhile, Pennington continued to kick the former champion’s calf. Esparza then connected with a punch, surprising both Pennington and the fans in the building who would have expected her to shoot a takedown. Another charge from Esparza saw her land, but this time Pennington countered and connected with a solid strike of her own. Despite making a living in the wrestling department, Esparza was unable to land a takedown in the final round of his career. But she faced Pennington in the final 90 seconds and showed a rougher side to the match than usual. In the final 20 seconds, Esparza landed a final takedown and landed an elbow to finish the fight on top.
But that wasn’t enough to appease the judges, who unanimously awarded the score to Tecia Pennington, including awarding all three rounds to Pennington on one scorecard. This confused many, and fans in Salt Lake City made it known that they did not agree with this decision.
After the fight, the promotion aired a highlight package that included clips from Invicta and UFC featuring Carla Esparza, similar to what they did during Robbie Lawler’s farewell.
Official result: Tecia Pennington def. Carla Esparza unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
