UFC 274: Carla Esparza beats Rose Namajunas, as Joe Rogan slams ‘stinker of all stinkers’
- Esparza claims the UFC strawweight title with split decision in Phoenix, Arizona on Saturday night
- UFC commentator Joe Rogan blasts boring co-main event, calling it ‘dud of all duds’
Carla Esparza is the new UFC strawweight champion, but her title-winning split decision victory over Rose Namajunas will not be remembered fondly.
The two women collided in the co-main event of UFC 274 on Saturday in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the second time the pair met in the Octagon, after Esparza submitted Namajunas to become the strawweight division’s inaugural champion in 2014.
While Esparza was victorious again the second time around, the fight itself was almost completely devoid of action, much to the frustration of the fans inside the host Footprint Centre and the frustration of cage-side commentators Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier and Jon Anik.
“I had a game plan going in there,” Esparza told Rogan after her win was announced, her voice almost inaudible over a chorus of boos. “I wanted the takedown, but game plans go out the window sometimes.”
“You never want to be a part of a fight like that,” she added. “I tried to come forward as much as I could, but I got that W and that’s what counts.”
Neither woman threw anything of consequence through rounds one, two, or three, outside of a handful of feints and the occasional leg kick.
“This is the most uneventful two rounds ever,” Rogan said after the second round.