A strawweight title rematch between Rose
Namajunas and Carla
Esparza will serve as the co-main event at
UFC 274 on May 7.
Multiple outlets confirmed the booking following an initial report
from
Sports Illustrated. Namajunas and Esparza competed on Season 20
of “The Ultimate Fighter” and then squared off at the show’s finale
in December 2014, with “Cookie Monster” claiming the promotion’s
inaugural 115-pound belt with a third-round submission victory.
Namajunas would go on to win nine of her next 11 Octagon
appearances. She is in the midst of her second championship reign
at strawweight and is coming off a split-decision triumph over
Weili
Zhang in a title defense at UFC 268. Her resume includes wins
over the likes of Zhang (twice), Jessica
Andrade, Joanna
Jedrzejczyk (twice), Michelle
Waterson and Tecia
Torres.
Esparza, meanwhile, would relinquish the crown in a lopsided loss
to Jedrzejczyk in her first title defense at UFC 185. The Team
Oyama has compiled a five-bout winning streak since 2019 to
establish herself as the division’s No. 1 contender. Most recently,
Esparza defeated Xiaonan Yan
via second-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 188 last May.
UFC 274 takes place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix and is
headlined by a lightweight title clash between Charles
Oliveira and Justin
Gaethje.