Former UFC Title Challenger Jessica Eye Signs with BKFC

Jessica Eye isn’t done with combat sports just yet.

The former Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight revealed on ”The Ariel Helwani Show” that she has signed a contract to compete for the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship later confirmed the deal via social media. Eye is expected to make her promotional debut on May 10 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her current deal with BKFC is for one fight.

“After a long time of negotiation, I am signing with Bareknuckle Fighting Championship. I started out boxing,” Eye said. “… They finally came financially correct and motivated me enough to be like, ‘You know what?’ Maybe these guys will take care of me in a way that I wasn’t taken care of in my UFC fights and that’s financially rewarding.”

Eye announced her retirement from MMA following a loss to Maycee Barber at UFC 276 in July 2022. That was the fourth straight defeat and fifth in six outings overall for the 38-year-old Ohio native.

Eye went 5-10 with one no contest during over the course of a UFC stint that began in 2013. She challenged for the 125-pound title in June 2019, when she suffered a head-kick KO loss to Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 238. “Evil” owns a 15-11 career mark that includes notable triumphs over the likes of Viviane Araujo, Katlyn Cerminara and Leslie Smith.