Carla Esparza Talks About Losing Her Walkout Theme Before UFC Fight Night 105

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Carla Esparza (11-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) spoke about losing her walkout theme, Metallica’s “Harvester of Sorrow,” before UFC Fight Night 105. She has used it since she made her MMA debut in February 2010, but was told she couldn’t for this show. She will fight Randa Markos (6-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC) at the event, which happens on Sunday.

On losing her walkout song: “I am so bummed about that. I think a lot of fighters have things that are kind of their rituals, and this is one of them for me. It’s a very important song to me. I’ve been walking out to it from my first (fight). They asked me, ‘Do you want the same song?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ Then I get a text a couple days later saying for legal reasons, nothing to do with the UFC, I can’t use it anymore. I’m freaking out like, ‘Oh my god, oh my god.’ I let the fans know, and I asked for their help. There’s so many songs and good music out there, but I just needed something that felt right. It’s a very important thing for me. It’s not like I pick something new every fight like, ‘Oh, whatever.’ This is something that’s very important, so I took a good amount of time to figure it out, and I got it.”

On trying to find a replacement: “I’ve had people suggest (wearing headphones) to me but I’ve never walked out with headphones before. I don’t know how it would feel. I asked if I could come out with no song and maybe I could be listening to it (in my head). I think having one song blasting and listening to another song might be kind of weird. I don’t know. I guess it’s time for change, and I’m hoping it’s my new good luck song.”

On her fight with Markos: “It’s kind of interesting because I’ve never fought another wrestler. I’m interested to see how we match up there. I know we both have a good ground game, and I’ve been working on my striking a lot. Maybe she has, I don’t know. She’s more of a boxer, so we’ll see how that goes. On paper I think we’re very similar styles, so I think it’s just who can perform better at what we do.”