Michelle Waterson, Carla Esparza (©UFC)

Carla “The Cookie Monster” Esparza, 32, of Redondo Beach, California, United States was one of the winners at “UFC 249.” It was the Mexican-Ecuadorian-Irish-American mixed martial artist’s sixth victory in the MMA promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is based in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.

Featuring 11 MMA matches, “UFC 249” took place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, USA on May 9, 2020. In the fourth bout of the evening, Esparza fought Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson, 34, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA  in the women’s strawweight division.

Dan Miragliotta served as the referee. After three five-minute rounds, the strawweight contest was left in the hands of the judges, who scored it 29-28, 30-37 and 27-30.

In the end, Miragliotta raised the hand of Esparza. The Redondo Beach native was declared the winner via split decision.

Competing professionally since 2010, Esparza joined the UFC in 2014. The first five opponents she defeated in the promotion were Rose Namajunas, Juliana Lima, Maryna Moroz, Cynthia Calvillo, Virna Jandiroba and Alexa Grasso.

Winning at “UFC 249” improved the professional MMA record of Esparza to 16 wins and 6 losses. On the other hand, Waterson now has 17 wins and 8 losses.

Seven countries were represented at “UFC 249” namely were Brazil, Cameroon, Cape Verde, France, Russia, Suriname and the U.S. Esparza and Waterson were two of the 16 representatives of the U.S.

While almost all major international sports events have been either cancelled or postponed, the UFC held “UFC 249” amid the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As of May 9, 2020, the U.S. listed 1,346,354 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 80,007 died from a disease caused by the virus and 236,825 recovered from it.