The Rise of Carla Esparza

[daniel san]

Do people actually believe Esparza has a shot at beating Rose? This may not age well, or it will, but Rose will dominate Esparza from the very first second. KO round 1 2m 35s.

 

[sfer1]

So this is one of those magical divisions where most people get a lot better with age and lots of wear and tear? Esparza is not better at 34 than she was at 28. That's ridiculous.

What do you mean "let's have them fight"? Which one of us do you think is in charge of that?

All I know is Joanna is trying to handpick her next opponent. She doesn't seem so confident she can beat girls that, acording, to you, aren't any better than the opponents she used to face. She sure is ducking Rodriguez like crazy.

 

[SouthpawSouthernFist]

Do people actually believe Esparza has a shot at beating Rose? This may not age well, or it will, but Rose will dominate Esparza from the very first second. KO round 1 2m 35s.

Get real! If Weili's 6 months of wrestling experience can land her a couple good takedowns with top control, imagine what Carla's YEARS of wrestling will do. Think about how bad Rose's wrestling has to be to be taken down a controlled by a literal wrestling n00b.

There's levels to this.

 

[sfer1]

Get real! If Weili's 6 months of wrestling experience can land her a couple good takedowns with top control, imagine what Carla's YEARS of wrestling will do. Think about how bad Rose's wrestling has to be to be taken down a controlled by a literal wrestling n00b.

There's levels to this.

Weili didn"t start wrestling with Cejudo.

 

[Kyojiro Kagenuma]

Do people actually believe Esparza has a shot at beating Rose? This may not age well, or it will, but Rose will dominate Esparza from the very first second. KO round 1 2m 35s.

Yeah I'd imagine the odds would be pretty lopsided.

 

[SouthpawSouthernFist]

Weili didn"t start wrestling with Cejudo.

Just the absolute basics of TDD and such before, as a striker in a division with hardly any wrestling threats this is completely normal. She tried to gain real offensive wrestling in the span of 6-7 months, and succeeded!

 

[Sausage_Carius]

Dana would rather have his dick cut off than let Carla potentially derail Rose. Andrade isn't much of a grappler but she was the first one that ever came close to grappling with Rose since the loss to Carla. Technically there was KK who is I'm sorry to say incompetent in the cage when it comes to grappling who clinch fucked and smothered Rose on the ground to a near finish.

Rose and her coaches would have to have an overwhelming belief that they got Carla cold before they would ever even entertain the idea of fighting her let alone sign a contract to do so. Has some of you not been paying any attention to Rose's career in the UFC or some of her public statements of how she and her team runs her career?

 

[Lawrence]

i like carla and was happy to see her win the belt after TUF 20, but rose is on another level at this point. i could be wrong but I dont see how carla beats her right now

I favor Rose as well.

But like the thread title says: Rise of Carla

She has earned the shot. She is no soccer mom and the legit top contender for the last 8 Months.

Anything less is unfair.

Also... The world is unfair.

 

[JayTeeM]

Massive step back for the division if Esparza somehow beats Rose. WMMA has has evolved big time since they last met. Rose is just on another level at this point.

 

[sfer1]

Dana would rather have his dick cut off than let Carla potentially derail Rose. Andrade isn't much of a grappler but she was the first one that ever came close to grappling with Rose since the loss to Carla. Technically there was KK who is I'm sorry to say incompetent in the cage when it comes to grappling who clinch fucked and smothered Rose on the ground to a near finish.

Rose and her coaches would have to have an overwhelming belief that they got Carla cold before they would ever even entertain the idea of fighting her let alone sign a contract to do so. Has some of you not been paying any attention to Rose's career in the UFC or some of her public statements of how she and her team runs her career?

Sure, Dana made Rose fight Joanna, Andrade and Weili twice each, because he's trying to protect her.

 

[randumo24]

Sure, Dana made Rose fight Joanna, Andrade and Weili twice each, because he's trying to protect her.

The things people say to try to discredit Rose sometimes are mind boggling. She may have faced the most difficult 6 fight schedule relative to any division for any fighter currently in the UFC, and according to some she is either untested or being protected lol.

 

[Karl_Hungus]

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2015/1/...a-buys-1000-sundae-to-celebrate-ufc-title-win

 

[Ghostoftheville]

45% of Rose's wins came by submission (and that's not counting her 3 submissions in TUF) vs 36% of Miesha's.

Look at who rose submitted

 

[Sausage_Carius]

The things people say to try to discredit Rose sometimes are mind boggling. She may have faced the most difficult 6 fight schedule relative to any division for any fighter currently in the UFC, and according to some she is either untested or being protected lol.

Who says Rose is untested? She was tested vs Carla and got dominated.

She is not the first or the last fighter in the UFC who gets favorable matchups as they build her up as a prospect and a future title contender. There's practically a fighter like that on every other card. Most of them simply fail. She did not. Not a hard concept. I have always credited her and her coaches for what they did to build her up post Carla loss while accurately laying criticism when people are obtuse about it. IMO she is probably the best example of everything going right for a fighter and their career that could easily have gone pear shaped on several decisions back to back several times over. I don't do metrics but she has to be up there with winning close fights that could have gone the other way in the whole UFC.

Honestly it's amazing to me how poorly people judge fighters in general. I do wonder how they would have viewed Rose had some of those decisions went the other way and Tecia or Andrade got the nod instead setting Rose back years and keeping her from her initial and second title reign. It could easily have been Tecia who faced Joanna at UFC 217 and imagine how people would have reacted if Tecia TKOed Joanna giving her confidence in herself that she lacked when she did eventually face Joanna, yeah I watched the pre and post fight interviews and the more recent ones when she started winning again, and what if Tecia won a decision vs Joanna who got rushed back in. Not a crazy concept when you see Tecia's career pre UFC, post losses and now winning again.

I feel like too many people don't ever pay attention to the rest of the division. They just watch a couple of interviews and maybe a few UFC numbered event shows and think they know the fighters. You don't.

 

[sfer1]

Who says Rose is untested? She was tested vs Carla and got dominated.

She is not the first or the last fighter in the UFC who gets favorable matchups as they build her up as a prospect and a future title contender. There's practically a fighter like that on every other card. Most of them simply fail. She did not. Not a hard concept. I have always credited her and her coaches for what they did to build her up post Carla loss while accurately laying criticism when people are obtuse about it. IMO she is probably the best example of everything going right for a fighter and their career that could easily have gone pear shaped on several decisions back to back several times over. I don't do metrics but she has to be up there with winning close fights that could have gone the other way in the whole UFC.

Honestly it's amazing to me how poorly people judge fighters in general. I do wonder how they would have viewed Rose had some of those decisions went the other way and Tecia or Andrade got the nod instead setting Rose back years and keeping her from her initial and second title reign. It could easily have been Tecia who faced Joanna at UFC 217 and imagine how people would have reacted if Tecia TKOed Joanna giving her confidence in herself that she lacked when she did eventually face Joanna, yeah I watched the pre and post fight interviews and the more recent ones when she started winning again, and what if Tecia won a decision vs Joanna who got rushed back in. Not a crazy concept when you see Tecia's career pre UFC, post losses and now winning again.

I feel like too many people don't ever pay attention to the rest of the division. They just watch a couple of interviews and maybe a few UFC numbered event shows and think they know the fighters. You don't.

Rose was tested vs Carla when she was 22 and on her fourth pro fight?

Tecia is skilled and hard-working, but she has always been undersized. She was a top contender when the division was still in diapers. Now that it has evolved, she can no longer make up for the size difference. It's not a matter of confidence.

If Tecia TKO'ed Joanna? The only TKO of her career was a doctor stoppage. No, she could have never done what Rose did to Joanna.

You resent Rose because you're a butthurt Joanna fan and Rose whooped her ass twice.

 

[Shaquitas EBT]

i'd give that cookie my monster

 

[Paladin]

I don't know if Carla can beat her, but since she's a former champ, on a 5 fight streak, with a win over Rose she's absolutely earned the right to try.

I'm not personally sold on the idea that Rose is a super talent on the level of a Shevchenko or Nunes. She's been very spotty in the past. She's 4-2 in title fights and has never won 4 in a row. So it's hard to imagine that she's now an unbeatable monster in her division. She barely squeeked past Zhang.

Rose is like Yair to me. Excellent offensive fighter, but not the best in the wrestling dept.

 

[randumo24]

Rose is like Yair to me. Excellent offensive fighter, but not the best in the wrestling dept.

Rose's wrestling is underrated imo. She isn't a power wrestler that's going to be overpowering the other women up against the cage with double legs, but she is top 5 in the history of the division in terms of TD accuracy. Remember, she secured TDs on two hard to TD fighters in the 5th round of both fights against JJ & Weili to make sure to win that last round of both of those fights which was important.

Also, if you count the ground game as wrestling, she rarely gets out-grappled there. Despite Weili taking her down 5 times, the amount of significant strikes she actually landed on the ground could be counted on one hand. Not to mention, Weili's TD in the 4th round actually ended up winning Rose that round because she reversed position and ended up on top for about half of the round.