Sunday night at UFC Fight Night 105, Randa Markos picked up the biggest victory of her career, taking out former UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza via split decision. Following the win, Markos spoke to the audience about something she is very passionate about, bullying. She pleaded with anyone who is a bully to stop their behaviour.

Markos has since revealed her comments were very much targeted at Esparza and the way she was treated by her on The Ultimate Fighter 20 back in 2014.

“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.”

Markos kept quiet about her dislike for Esparza in the lead-up to the fight, she felt there was no better form of redemption than performing inside the octagon and now feels as though she can speak about it. She admits Esparza’s behaviour made her feel bad about herself. She says Esparza was constantly shoulder shoving her on the show, and she knew someday she would get her revenge.

“(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.”

“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.”

Markos expects to have a high-ranked opponent in her next bout, and she promises fans are in for another surprise when she next competes.

“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?”

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