HALIFAX – Randa Markos admits she held resentment toward Carla Esparza since their interactions on “The Ultimate Fighter 20.” And she got payback in the best way possible with a split-decision win over the former strawweight champion at UFC Fight Night 105.

Markos (7-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) and Esparza (11-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) had tension on “TUF 20.” Markos felt she was being bullied by Esparza and good friend Felice Herrig during the reality series, and that’s why she delivered a speech during her post-fight interview with Brian Stann, pleading with people to stop bullying.

“The stuff I went through, it was clear bullying,” Markos told MMAjunkie. “I have a niece at home, and she’s being bullied right in school, and it really breaks my heart. I know what it feels like. I’ve been bullied in school and then I’m an adult now, and I was on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and I was being bullied as an adult. It really needs to stop.

“You don’t know the effect you’re giving somebody when you treat them so badly. It really affects them sometimes, especially little children. To see adults do it, that’s where it starts. Kid’s learn it from their parents, kids learn it from gown-ups. It needs to stop.”

Although Markos kept quiet about her distain for Esparza in the lead-up to the fight, she felt there was no better form of redemption than performing inside the octagon in the FS1-televised strawweight bout at Scotiabank Centre.

“(My speech) was because of my history with Carla, and I needed to say it because she feels she didn’t bully me,” Markos said. “I’ve heard in some interviews she didn’t do anything wrong. No, she did. She made me feel really bad about myself, and that didn’t need to happen.

“It’s so satisfying (to beat her). You don’t even know. I do hold grudges sometimes, but that really bothered me. She was constantly shoulder shoving me and all this stuff. I thought in the back of my head, ‘Just keep it inside, you’re eventually going to get your time.’ This was it, and I’m really, really happy I got this opportunity.”

Although her hand was raised at the end of the fight, an argument can be made that the former 115-pound champ Esparza should have won. Markos doesn’t necessarily agree with that assessment and feels she did put forth her maximum effort to come out on top.

“I gave it everything I could, so I was pretty confident in coming out of there with the victory,” Markos said. “There’s nothing else I could do. Obviously I have a lot of improvement to do, but in that fight I felt like I gave it everything, so I was really happy with the result.”

Regardless, Markos got the job done and picked up unquestionably the most significant victory of her 11-fight professional career. She must find a way to continue that momentum forward, though, because over the past nine fights Markos has failed to string together consecutive wins.

Markos knows that beating Esparza is going to mark a huge jump for her in the divisional rankings, and while she wouldn’t call out any specific opponent for her next fight, she knows it’s going to be a matchup of significance.

“I’m not one person you want to bet against, because you never know what you’re going to get with me,” Markos said. “Most likely (my next fight is) going to be top competition. She was a former champ, and if I can beat the former champ, what else can I do?”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 105, check out the UFC Events section of the site.