Daniel Cormier believes former strawweight champion, Carla Esparza deserves the next title shot.
In the co-main event of UFC Vegas 27, Esparza dominated Xiaonan Yan en route to a TKO win. After the result, many believe she should get the next title shot. However, according to Cormier, he thinks the UFC might do Rose Namajunas vs. Weili Zhang 2, but even he believes Esparza has earned the title shot.
“I believe that after what she did on Saturday, she has earned the title fight,” Cormier said on his ESPN show yesterday (via MMAFighting). “Now, it doesn’t work out like that in terms of what you’ve earned.
“It always doesn’t just (work like) ‘earn this, it belongs to me.’ It’s a number of other things but I do agree that it should be Carla,” Cormier continued. “Carla has done everything she has needed to do and honestly, she beat Rose Namajunas. She dominated Rose Namajunas. That first fight off The Ultimate Fighter, it wasn’t like it was close. She beat her up. She took her down over and over again, she beat her up. They should fight again, but with who Zhang Weili became as the champion, I don’t know if that’s a bad fight, in terms of the rematch because the fight was so quick you don’t know if Zhang Weili just got caught.”
Carla Esparza is on a five-fight winning streak and has looked impressive in her recent fights. For Cormier, he also believes it would be an intriguing style matchup against Namajunas, as if Esparza gets the takedown it would be a tough night for the champ.
“For me personally, I’m tuning in to watch Rose Namajunas versus Carla Esparza,” Cormier said. “Honestly, I’m tuning in to watch Rose Namajunas fight anybody and if Carla Esparza can ground her like she did the first time, two-time UFC strawweight champion. And the way she looked Saturday against Yan Xiaonan, Carla Esparza is scary because Yan Xiaonan is good. Yan Xiaonan is a good fighter and the way she beat her is crazy.”
