Carla Esparza to Claudia Gadelha: “You’re a Cheater”

Carla Esparza is having a tough time letting go of her split-decision loss to Claudia Gadelha at UFC 225, primarily because she was never able to get a firm grip to begin with. On an appearance Monday on the MMA Hour, Carla Esparza levied some heavy accusations on the former strawweight title challenger, accusing Gadelha of cheating by greasing before the fight.

“She cheated in the fight,” Esparza said.” “She greased before the fight. I was considering saying something to the ref in between the fight. I was gonna say like, ‘She’s greasing. She’s greasing.’ But I didn’t really know how to go about it. It’s pretty shady to me. I finally rewatched the fight, and my hands were slipping right off. Even when I was trying to grab armbars in the fight, my arm was slipping right down.”

Esparza was able to finish the fight strong, pulling away in the third round in what was her strongest round in the fight. Unfortunately, in the eyes of two judges, it was too little too late. Although the former strawweight champion is disappointed in what she is convinced was foul play by Gadelha, she hardly found it surprising:

“She’s a cheater, but it doesn’t really surprise me. In my opinion, she’s been a dirty fighter throughout, so it is what it is.”

Esparza, visibly emotional, even took this time to look squarely into the camera and speak to Gadelha directly:

“Claudia, you’re a cheater. Like, straight up. It’s not cool.”

Not long after her interview, Esparza took to Twitter to publicly request for a rematch with Gadelha:

Hey @ClaudiaGadelha_ i was never scared before and I’m certainly not scared now… rematch?@danawhite @Mickmaynard2 pic.twitter.com/vefgdG4K9P

— Carla Esparza (@CarlaEsparza1) June 11, 2018

We will have to wait and see if Esparza’s accusation will prompt a response from Gadelha at all, let alone an affirmative one to Esparza’s call for a rematch.