UFC 238 | Jessica Eye ready for Valentina Shevchenko, ‘I’m not a pushover’

After weeks of speculation and expecting an official announcement, it was just a matter of when we would end up getting one. Monday would be that day.

UFC 238 in Chicago, Illinois on June 8 will host the next flyweight title bout as the new champion, Valentina ‘Bullet’ Shevchenko will look to make a successful first defense against the 10-fight UFC veteran, Jessica Eye.

Since returning to the flyweight division in January 2018, Eye has won three fights in a row thus completely righting the ship of her UFC career prior as she went 1-5 (1 NC) at bantamweight.

“I’m not a pushover,” Eye told MMA Junkie. “Just because I lost before and everybody once identified me with previous fights that I had. I hope she (Valentina) takes this extra time and really works on being a better her and being just as ready for me as I’m going to be ready for her. Because this is a real chance of two tough chicks fighting each other. This is the cream of the crop right now, and if she doesn’t take this extra time to make herself better, she’ll be surprised fight night because I’m taking all this extra time to make sure I am the best me.”

Before Jessica Eye was in the UFC, she was a top prospect at 125-pounds. Unfortunately, at the time that she was UFC bound the flyweight division had yet to be created. She is 9-1 in the division.

After defeating Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 231 in December 2018, Eye was next in line for Shevchenko who was crowned that same night. Although Eye’s first career UFC title fight will come at UFC 238, it was originally proposed for UFC Prague this past month.

However, the ‘Evil’ one wasn’t yet cleared to compete due to some teeth issues which almost lost her the opportunity.

“I’m like, ‘I can’t take a fight. I need a couple more weeks. My mouth is not healed,’” Eye said. “What are we supposed to do? Take the fight and then get halfway through the camp and I get a mouth infection? I think people think I’m just trying to get out of it, but I’ve lost a lot of teeth over the past couple years. We’re getting punched in the mouth, our teeth are getting cracked, infections are getting in there. I can’t fight if I have a tooth infection, I can’t fight if I have loose teeth.”

It’s been a long time coming for Jessica Eye and she has plenty of confidence in herself ahead of her biggest moment.

“One of her biggest weaknesses is her ability to adjust to the fighter she’s fighting and be able to do something different. I think being versatile and being a true martial artists wins this flyweight title and keeps me champion for a really long time.”

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/12/2019