TUF 20 Finale: Carla Esparza Dominant in UFC Championship Win

In the end, it was perhaps too much, too soon for Rose Namajunas.

They came to the cage as opposite portraits. Namajunas was all bounce and intensity, singing along with Young MC and generally looking like someone who came to Las Vegas to complete her journey.

Carla Esparza, who perhaps won walkout song of the decade by strolling to the cage to the dulcet tones of "Harvester of Sorrows" by Metallica, looked calm and perhaps even a little scared. It was as though the moment had gotten to her and that perhaps she was not ready for it.

But then the fight happened, and we learned what fighters look like when they are walking to the Octagon is not the best of indicators when it comes to what happens in the actual fight.

Esparza shot out of the gate, dominating Namajunas for two rounds before finishing her in the third round with a rear-naked choke to become the UFC's first strawweight champion. She dedicated the win to the late Shane Del Rosario, who was Esparza's teammate at Team Oyama in Los Angeles.

The story of the fight, as most figured it would be going in, was Esparza's wrestling. Could Namajunas stuff the takedowns? The younger fighter had the more dynamic striking, to be sure, and stood a decent chance of winning the fight on the feet. But alas, she could not keep it there. Esparza took Namajunas down at will, and though Namajunas was able to escape several times, Esparza ultimately became too much for her.

Namajunas has a bright future. She will be one of the division's brightest stars for a long time to come, provided she works on her wrestling and takedown defense.

Though she far surpassed Esparza in popularity, it became clear that those who believed her shot at the championship came too soon were correct. This was just her fourth professional fight.

Two years from now, this result might have been different. Friday night, it was not to be.

Esparza, correctly seeded at No. 1 by Joe Silva and Sean Shelby going into The Ultimate Fighter tournament, proved them correct by winning the belt. And she has a ready-made opponent waiting for her, provided Claudia Gadelha—who fights on Saturday's UFC on Fox card in Phoenix—wins this weekend.

Gadelha is considered by many to be the best strawweight in the world, but she could not enter The Ultimate Fighter house due to an inability to make weight multiple times over the six-week filming schedule.

But for now, this is Esparza's moment. And it is a learning moment for Namajunas, who will no doubt get better, shore up her game and return as a force to be reckoned with.