Carla Esparza has lucked out.
According to an Instagram put up Thursday by the UFC women’s strawweight champion, Esparza (19-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) won’t need surgical procedures to restore possibly of her two undisclosed injuries soon after current MRIs. She also added she’ll probable contend by the close of the calendar yr, pending productive rehab and recovery.
“Health update: I just observed my doctor in regards to my 2 MRI final results yesterday, and the fantastic news is, no surgeries needed on both area!” Esparza wrote. “I simply need a tiny far more time to recover, PRP injections(by now scheduled), and a tiny actual physical remedy and I must be again to 100% to commence camp and struggle just before this 12 months is finished. I have a extremely rough struggle and camp forward of me, and I look ahead to giving it my all. In the meantime, search ahead to some modified instruction. Thank you to the @UFC for being on top of it, and generating positive I get back again to 100.”
In June, future-in-line title challenger Zhang Weili named for Esparza to battle her at UFC 281 in Oct – neutral territory for a China vs. United States matchup. A short while ago, Esparza advised MMA Junkie she did not want to rush into a title defense. She required to do points suitable.
“I realize why she would say it,” Esparza mentioned. “It didn’t seem to be like she took any accidents. She most likely would like a fight nearer to home. She shot her shot. However which is not a day that is effective for me, so I’m not stressing or rushing to get again on a day that will work for her. I have some accidents that I have to deal with (and) a pair MRIs that I should really be getting tomorrow. So, we’ll see after the dust settles what date would make sense for us.”
Esparza, 34, is at this time on her second UFC title reign. She defeated Rose Namajunas by way of unanimous decision for the belt at UFC 274 in May well, a title clinch more than 7 many years just after she dropped the championship to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in 2015.