Esparza: Everyone thinks we are great and doing well, but…

Ronda Rousey was the inaugural women’s bantamweight champion. Carla Esparza was the inaugural women’s strawweight champion. Both fighters lost their title in 2015. Both have a fight coming up.

But Rousey is rich, and Esparza can barely pay her bills. The hardcore fanbase immediately cites the $1,000 sundae she shared with Felice Herrig, after winning the title. That was a one-time opulent splurge. After her last fight, a rebound win over Juliana Lima in April, she bought more secure windows for her home.

Esparza reportedly got $60,000 for beating Lima, and 30% went immediately for training and management fees. Then she got a $40,000 tax bill.

She has been waiting for a fight since, and eventually put up for sale the Harley she won on TUF. The auction winner was in the UK and balked when he learned he would have to pay import taxes on it.

It was just the humiliation of having to put that out there, said Esparza to Martin Rogers for USA Today. Nobody wants to say they are not doing well. It was super embarrassing. A lot of people were very kind and some offered money, but I’m not eating ramen or starving, so I can’t accept that.

You are at someone’s mercy. They have the power to give you a fight, or to put you on the bench for 10 months. It is scary, and I don’t like that feeling. The stress makes you think is it even worth it? There are days when I am wondering what I am going to do to put food on my table. There have been times when I am sitting here depressed and crying every day because I can’t do what I love to do, and also, I can’t meet the bills.

“There is not a single fighter in the UFC that doesn’t believe all the fighters should be paid more, that is a given. Some of the fighters are struggling to survive. Everyone thinks we are great and doing well, but … .

Esparza, 29, is the #3 ranked contender in her division. Signs point to her having a fight, but nothing has been announced.