The absence of a crowd at UFC 249 certainly had some unintended consequences. Beyond the surreal feel for many at home, the fighters had to get used to sounds echoing, and their corners coming in crystal clear — as well as their opponent’s corners. Nor was it just corners that came through loud and clear Saturday night in Jacksonville. The commentary team of Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and Daniel Cormier could be heard clearly in the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena, including by the fighters in the cage.
Carla Esparza, during her split decision win over Michelle Waterson on the evening’s televised card, certainly noticed. And she even managed to take some advice from comments made by DC, who suddenly found himself an unintentional corner.
“It’s crazy cuz he was like criticizing me, and I was like, you know, part of me is like, ‘hey, like, that’s my stuff.’ You know, like, ‘why are you saying that?'” Esparza recalled, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press in a virtual press scrum. “But I was like, ‘No, that’s actually a good idea.'”
Cormier’s comments, from what Esparz overheard, had to do with Esparza not really mixing up her attacks. The mid-fight criticism, intentional or not, motivated “The Cookie Monster” to make some adjustments. “It’s crazy. We’re definitely able to really hear them in there.”
The split decision win for Esparza (16-6), the UFC’s inaugural strawweight champion, saw both fighters take home 30-27 scores. The remaining frame was a 29-28 awarded to Esparza.
“I’m not gonna lie. I kind of freaked out for a second there,” she said, when asked how she was feeling while the results were being announced. “It’s kind of scary because if somebody sees it that one-sided then you don’t really know how it’s gonna come out. And it was crazy that one judge saw, I think one judge gave me gave me all three rounds, so it was kind of like very lopsided judging, and I’m not sure how they’ve been calling the fights all night, but I thought that was a really weird call and I definitely freaked me out.”
As for what’s next, after a little time off, Esparza would love a rematch with Claudia Gadelha. “We had a very controversial split decision a couple years ago. And I called her out. And she’s recently called me out,” the ex-champ said. “So I think that would be a great match to make.”
With Gadelha fighting Angela Hill on May 16, the timing works. “I’ll take the winner of that fight. I have actually fought both of them. So you know, I’m definitely game for that.”
