A women’s strawweight encounter between Carla Esparza and Randa Markos has been announced for UFC Fight Night 105.
The fight was announced by MMAFighting.com.
Esparza (11-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) debuted in the UFC at The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale, where she won the inaugural UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship with a third round submission victory over Rose Namajunas. In her first title defence, Esparza was stopped by current champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk in the second round of their bout at UFC 185. In her most recent outing, Esparza took a unanimous decision victory over Juliana Lima at UFC 197.
Markos (6-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC) also appeared on The Ultimate Fighter 20, and fought at the Finale of the show, losing a split decision to Jessica Penne. Markos rebounded from the loss with a unanimous decision victory over Aisling Daly at UFC 186. A loss followed, as the Canadian then dropped a unanimous decision to future title contender Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Markos made it 2-2 in the promotion at UFC Ontario with a decision victory over Joceyn Jones-Lybarger. In her most recent outing, Markos lost via verbal submission to Cortney Casey at UFC 202.
UFC Fight Night 105 takes place live from the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on February 19. The card is expected to be headlined by a heavyweight bout between Junior dos Santos and Stefan Struve.
