Jessica Eye on her UFC 238 title fight: ‘This is for the people you call losers’

It wasn’t all that long ago that Jessica Eye was looking at her record and saw four losses in a row staring back at her.

Now it’s rather common for three consecutive losses to end in a pink slip being handed out by the UFC but Eye was still given an additional chance to prove herself.

Sadly, she came up short yet again in a heartbreaking split decision loss to Bethe Correia in a hometown fight at UFC 203 in Cleveland in 2016. It seemed like a foregone conclusion that Eye’s demise was already sealed but the UFC opted to keep her on the roster.

She took more than a year off from competition to get her mind right and her body ready for a move back down to 125 pounds after the UFC decided to introduce a women’s flyweight division.

Before coming to the UFC, Eye was considered one of the best flyweight fighters in the world and she was anxious to show what she could do while facing opponents her own size.

Fast forward 18 months and three wins later, Eye is now preparing for her first UFC title shot as she faces Valentina Shevchenko with the flyweight championship on the line this Saturday night from Chicago.

It was an improbable run but just about everything Eye has ever accomplished has been against the odds, which is why she’s dedicating her performance at UFC 238 to all those who have been counted out yet still somehow find a way to succeed.

“This is just the beginning of the journey,” Eye said following the UFC 238 open workouts. “I’d have to say when I returned to [125 pounds] that was the hardest fight because I told you guys I could do this and then I just kept chipping away at this and I’m going to keep chipping away.

“Because this is for the people who count themselves out. This is for the people you call losers. This is for the people you don’t promote. I’m fighting this one for them.”

Eye knows she isn’t expected to win but that’s been the dark cloud hanging over her head for the past few years as she constantly scratched and clawed her way through every fight.

It might be the same exact scenario as she prepares for Shevchenko but Eye has no fear when it comes to facing a seemingly impossible task.

“Every loser wins someday,” Eye said. “And this is that day.”