Jedrzejczyk, Gadelha or Namajunas? Carla Esparza just wants her belt back

After a 13-month layoff, Carla Esparza returned to action with a unanimous decision victory over Juliana Lima at Saturday’s UFC 197 event.

The bout, which took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and aired on the FOX Sports 1-televised prelims ahead of a main card on pay-per-view and following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass, marked the first time Esparza (11-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) entered the octagon since losing the women’s strawweight championship.

Esparza told MMAjunkie Radio she wants to work her way back to being champion once again, but her focus is simply to improve and allow the shot to come through the natural process of picking up wins over other contenders.

“It’s really hard to say (when I’ll fight for the title),” Esparza said. “I’m really not focused on rushing back into it. I want to keep improving myself as a fighter and stay active, but from what people tell me, it could be two fights away. They’re not giving me bottom of the barrel; they’re still going to give me hard fights. I feel like, when you’re fighting at the top level it’s always one or two fights away. Obviously, I think Rose (Namajunas) is next in line for a title shot and I’m really happy for her. She deserves it.”

Esparza won the belt with a victory over Namajunas (5-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in the finale of “TUF 20.” While Esparza has repeatedly sidelined by injury, “Thug Rose” has picked up major wins, including a shockingly dominant fifth-round submission of Paige VanZant at UFC Fight Night 80 and a win over Tecia Torres at UFC on FOX 19. That success and consistent schedule has moved Namajunas to the No. 9 slot in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s strawweight rankings. That doesn’t exactly vault her ahead of No. 4 ranked Esparza, but the former champ admitted that it’s not only about the rankings when it comes to determining at title challenger.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) took the belt from Esparza, dominating her en route to a second-round TKO at UFC 185. She’ll now look to defend the belt for a third time when she rematches rival coach on “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 23, Claudia Gadelha (13-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at the season’s live finale. The finale takes place July 8 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and airs live on FOX Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

In Esparza’s eyes, Jedrzejczyk, Gadelha or Namajunas, whoever has the belt is who she wants to stand across the octagon from. Winning the title, she said, is far more important than the personal satisfaction of avenging her loss to “Joanna Champion.”

“It’s all about the belt for me,” Esparza said. “I don’t have any grudges, I want to win fights. Whoever is in front of me, that’s who matters. I don’t want to get too hung up on little things like it having to be this way or that way because you can never control that.”

Check out the video above for more from Esparza.

For complete coverage of UFC 197, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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