Carla Esparza to Retire After Match Against Tecia Pennington at UFC 307

A new Ultimate Fighting Championship mom will have her last dance in October.

Both Carla Esparza (19-7) and Tecia Pennington (13-7) have agreed to compete on Oct. 5 at UFC 307, according to MMA Junkie on Thursday. The strawweights have not signed bout agreements but the pairing should be complete within a few days. This will not be their first meeting, as they ran into one another on Season 20 of "The Ultimate Fighter" in 2014, with Esparza getting the upper hand after their two-round exhibition. The bout has since been confirmed by Esparza on Instagram on Friday, who explained that this would serve as her retirement fight.

Former two-time strawweight queen Esparza will be looking to go out with a win after a suffocating second-round submission loss to Weili Zhang in 2022. That defeat surrendered her title, one she claimed earlier that year courtesy of a tepid split decision over Rose Namajunas. “Cookie Monster” had amassed a five-fight win streak, including two split verdicts and a majority call, to get another title shot, although she punctuated that run by drumming out Xiaonan Yan in May 2021. Since then, Esparza has become a mother, giving birth to son, Donovan, with husband Matthew Lomeli.

Pennington also celebrated the birth of her first child in 2023, having a daughter, Alayah, with UFC champ Raquel Pennington. Pennington has competed once since becoming a mom, dropping a split decision to Tabatha Ricci in May. This is the second loss in a row for “The Tiny Tornado,” who saw a three-fight win streak come to an end courtesy of Mackenzie Dern in 2022. Before that loss, Pennington had beaten Brianna Fortino, Sam Hughes and Angela Hill to remain a contender at 115 pounds.

UFC 307 goes down at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5, with no main event currently on the books. A rumored pairing for that night includes Pennington’s wife, Raquel, defending her bantamweight strap against Julianna Pena, but that bout has not yet been confirmed. Movsar Evloev will battle Aljamain Sterling in the featherweight division, while Kayla Harrison and Ketlen Vieira square off at 135 pounds and Jose Aldo throws down with Mario Bautista at bantamweight.