LAS VEGAS – Onetime UFC flyweight title challenger Jessica Eye missed weight for her first fight since a brutal title loss, coming in five pounds over the non-title limit for a fight against Viviane Araujo at UFC 245.
After stripping off her clothes, Eye hit the scale at 131 pounds, or five more than the maximum 126 pounds she was allowed. With slightly more than 30 minutes until the end of the two-hour period allowed for official weigh-ins, she did not make a second attempt at making weight. As a result, she forfeited 30 percent of her show purse against Araujo.
Araujo accepted the overage and will still face Eye on the UFC Fight Pass-streamed prelims of Saturday’s pay-per-view card at T-Mobile Arena.
Eye was the last fighter to hit the scale and the only one of 26 combatants to miss weight. Over half of the fight card came in on weight in the first hour of the official weigh-ins.
I am not proud of missing weight . I am sorry to my opponent and my team. I have no excuse and I had a bad weight cut. I am glad me and Viviana get to compete together and both move forward. #UFC245
— Jessica Eye (@jessicaevileye) December 13, 2019
The Eye vs. Araujo bout comes six months after Eye took on current UFC flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko on the strength of a three-fight win streak. Just 26 seconds into the second round of the title bout, Eye was knocked out by a head kick and lay motionless for several moments afterward; she was suspended for 120 days and needed a clear CT scan to be cleared for competition.
In a pre-fight interview with MMA Fighting, Eye said she suffered a serious injury prior to the title bout and had six bulging discs in her back. She said the UFC’s Performance Institute did everything possible to prepare her for the bout, but said she wasn’t fighting like herself on that night.
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