Jessica Eye is ecstatic to be headlining her first UFC show.
Eye will be welcoming Cynthia Calvillo to the flyweight division in the main event of this Saturday’s UFC card. It’s a very important fight for the flyweight division. But, when it was announced as the main event, there was a ton of backlash which Eye doesn’t understand.
“I mean I feel like there were like three guys who had backlash on it then everyone else was pretty supportive,” Eye said to MMANews. “It’s just like anything, everyone will have a problem with something that isn’t their idea. I could care less. The UFC wants me to do it and the way they feel and their opinions matter more than anything.”
Entering this fight, Eye knows she will have the size advantage. She hopes it will be overwhelming for Calvillo who is moving up in weight.
“Let’s just look at basic statistics, she’s 5’4” I’m 5’6”, she has a 64-inch reach I have a 66-inch reach. There will be a noticeable size difference but with a lot of the women, we train with men all the time,” she explained. “We are always used to the size difference so I don’t foresee it being a huge issue for her. But, maybe it will be, maybe I’ll be so overpowering for her, which is ideally what we want.”
Jessica Eye is also excited to get the chance for five rounds once again. She believes that it will be to her advantage given Calvillo hasn’t done it before.
The top-ranked flyweight trained for five rounds when she fought Valentina Shevchenko, but suffered a knockout loss. Yet, she knows the training improved her cardio and is ready to show everyone the best Jessica Eye there has been on Saturday night.
“If she uses her wrestling, that is one of the things I’ve been learning for many years and just get better day by day and I have, we have seen that in all my fights at 125,” Eye said. “My takedowns and takedowns defense [is better]. No matter where the fight goes, I’m prepared and ready to showcase my skills. I’m also ready to prove to myself how good I really am, I know what I’m worth.”
For Jessica Eye, she’s confident she will be able to get her hand raised once again and remain the number one contender at flyweight.
Yet, given the fact she just fought Shevchenko last year, she isn’t sure she gets a title shot with a win. But, for “Evil” she isn’t focusing on that. Instead, he knows the more fights she gets the better she will be for the rematch against the champ.
“I’ll do whatever needs to be done. It’s a win-win situation,” Eye said. “If I get another fight outside the title, it’s just more experience and more money in my pocket for me to be ready for that chance. Or she gets beat by JoJo, we really don’t know. I’m just sitting back and working on myself and just paying attention to my own life.
“If I get back to the title in a year, it’s a year. If it’s in a couple of months, it’s in a couple of months,” she concluded. “There is not much I can do even though I want to b*tch and complain when I don’t like things. Let’s face it, JoJo [Calderwood] has earned her opportunity against Valentina so be it. She deserves to get her chance.”
