USA TODAY Sports

Keep betting against UFC strawweight champion Carla "Cookie Monster" Esparza.

She doesn't mind. She encourages it, even. She thrives as the underdog.

"I like being the underdog, definitely," Esparza told Bleacher Report. "It pushes me to prove myself."

Since making her professional mixed martial arts debut in February 2010, Esparza has done plenty of proving.

She's rapidly ascended the 115-pound ladder, landing atop the tallest peak of the highest mountain range in the game: the UFC.

After a run with lauded women's MMA promotion Invicta Fighting Championships that culminated in a world title, Esparza joined 15 other combatants to participate in an all-female cast of the hit reality television show, The Ultimate Fighter.

Despite holding the Invicta strap—the pinnacle of excellence for strawweights at the time—Esparza still felt underestimated throughout the competition.

In response, all she did was win.

Three victories inside the TUF house netted her a finale showdown against Rose Namajunas, a 22-year-old MMA whiz fighting out of Colorado's esteemed Grudge Training Center.

Like Esparza, Namajunas churned out three straight victories inside the TUF house. Unlike Esparza, however, people were talking about Namajunas and her potential. They were crowning her champion before her inauguration.

"Everybody basically thought I was going to get crushed in that fight and tapped out in the first round," Esparza said. "When we were on the show together, they were like, 'Who do you think is going to win this fight: Rose or Carla?' and it was like up to 90 percent at one time in her favor.

"But what people think is going to happen in a fight is a lot different. It has nothing to do with what is really going to happen."

What really happened was pure domination.

Esparza exploited a hole in Namajunas' defensive grappling, dragging the young prodigy to the mat five times over three rounds before slapping on a fight-ending rear-naked choke to seal the victory.

Haters be damned, Esparza became the UFC's first strawweight champion.

Now, she receives the opportunity to defend her title at UFC 185 Saturday against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, a Polish muay thai extraordinaire with a quirky, polarizing personality.

Once again, fans are wrapped up in the challenger: her training regimen, scowl and unbridled intensity. Meanwhile, the champion toils away, putting in the hard work that got her here in the first place.

And she believes that effort, that grind, will be enough to silence the critics once more.

"I don't think she's ever fought anybody like me," Esparza said. "I feel like I'm a different breed. I come from wrestling, which not a lot of women in our sport do, and I feel like wrestlers just have that nonstop, go-go mentality, and we're tough and we're just a different breed. I don't think she's ever felt that before."

Esparza, though, is not one to say much more than that. She's not in the fight-prediction business. She's not one for trash-talking or putting down opponents, and she's not a fan of weaving a web of hyperbole for herself, either.

While she acknowledges these qualities, when delivered in abundance by one Ronda Rousey, led to the explosion of women's MMA, she prefers her quiet, calm little corner of the MMA universe. The fame and the title won't change her disposition.

"I think everybody's different, and I actually think it's a good contrast to have us (Rousey and I) as champions, because she has more of an outgoing personality," Esparza said. "She speaks her mind, she doesn't care, she does what she wants. And I'm more of a reserved, humble, conservative fighter. I think it's a good contrast to have both those types of people as champions."

Despite this modest outlook, Esparza recently revealed a tinge of disappointment toward the UFC and its marketing efforts.

Fellow strawweight Paige VanZant, a 20-year-old combatant with just one win inside the Octagon, inked a deal with Reebok, receiving all the shoes, clothes, praise and media attention that come with it.

She was everywhere, and she couldn't even buy a celebratory appletini.

Esparza was upset. While the UFC did promise to rev up the marketing machine behind her and her run as champion, she's since moved on from that moment. The Reebok deal won't define her, but winning fights will.

"It's not super important for me (signing with Reebok)," Esparza said. "What's super important for me is winning fights and being the champ. I choose that a million times over some big sponsorship deal, because that's why I'm doing this sport."

So overlook Esparza at UFC 185 Saturday evening if you'd like. She doesn't mind.

Just know that she has a penchant for proving naysayers wrong, and she has no problem internalizing a proud "I told you so" as she takes her victory lap around the cage.