Carla Esparza not rushing into Joanna Jedrzejczyk title rematch: 'If I go there, I want to win'

OKLAHOMA CITY – Former champion Carla Esparza may have landed herself back on the win column, but she sees work to be done ahead of a new stab at the title.

Esparza (12-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC) used a superb takedown game to outwork Maryna Moroz (8-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) en route to a unanimous-decision win at Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 112 event. Following the triumph, which snapped a more than yearlong winless stretch, Esparza said in the octagon that she believes to be at least in the general vicinity of strawweight gold.

“I know I’m not far away from getting my rematch (with champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk),” Esparza said following the FS2-televised preliminary-card bout at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Speaking to reporters backstage, Esparza reiterated that she feels she’s – if not in the championship mix – at least on the brink. But, at the same time, she’s not in a rush to get a new fight with Jedrzejczyk (14-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA), who has defended the belt five times since taking it from Esparza at UFC 185.

“I’m taking it a fight at a time,” Esparza said. “I’ve had a long layoff, and I really want to just feel comfortable. That’s the fight, or any top contender fight. If I ever (get another title shot), I really want to feel confident and ready. I don’t want to jump in there and rush into it. If I go there, I want to win.”

Esparza, who became the UFC’s first 115-pound champ after winning the 20th season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” was knocked out in the second round of her encounter with Jedrzejczyk. She’s since fought three times, with two unanimous-decision wins and a split-call loss to Randa Markos sandwiched in between.

While Esparza was still “weathering through some ring rust” when she met Markos in February, she said she really found her groove against Moroz – especially after the first round. But it did take some adjustments.

“I was caught off-guard; her wrestling was a lot better than I thought,” Esparza said. “I’d studied a lot of footage, and I’d not seen her defend one takedown, ever. So I was like, ‘This girl is defending my takedowns.'”

Esparza takes a self-critical approach to her displays, and makes sure to look back on tape and fix her own holes instead of focusing on anyone else’s. But asked whether she agreed with the criticism that she lacked offense from the top, she – politely – stood by her display.

“I think that’s fair,” Esparza said. “Honestly, I really wanted to let go, but she was very good at neutralizing me. At this level in the game, you’re going to run into people who are just as good as you. It’s going to be hard.

“If I’d fought someone who has two fights and is new, I could let go on them all day. But considering how good her submission game is off her back, I think I did OK.”

Moving forward, Esparza says she’s willing to fight whomever gets put in front of her. But, currently ranked No. 5 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA women’s strawweight rankings, she expects that beating No. 11 Moroz (who’s No. 10 in the official UFC rankings) should award her a top-10 opponent.

To hear more from Esparza, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 112, check out the UFC Events section of the site.