While she’s been in the UFC for less than three years, Sijara Eubanks’ octagon run has been a roller-coaster affair. No more, she says.
“When I’m fighting at my best, when I’m the best ‘Sarj’ I can be, the fights are exciting,” Eubanks told MMA Junkie. “All 15 minutes of the Aspen Ladd fight were exciting, in my opinion. When it came to the Bethe Correia fight, I thought I brought it the first five minutes, and then I really can’t figure out exactly what happened in my mind throughout the rest of the fight, but I just wasn’t bringing it anymore. I just wasn’t bringing the pressure. I wasn’t firing back like I know I can. So that was just the biggest thing, is just staying aggressive and staying true to myself for the entire 15 to 25 minutes that I’m going to be in the cage.”
Eubanks, of course, entered the UFC as a cast member on “The Ultimate Fighter 26,” where she made her way to the finals and earned a right to compete for the promotion’s inaugural women’s flyweight title. However, she was pulled from the card while attempting to make weight and was unable to fight for the belt.
Eubanks then picked up back-to-back wins over Lauren Murphy and Roxanne Modafferi, though she missed weight in the latter of those. She’s since moved up to 135 pounds but dropped consecutive decisions to Ladd and Correia.
Eubanks (4-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) is now scheduled to return at next month’s UFC 249 event, where she’s slated to face Sarah Moras (6-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) at the April 18 card, which currently is seeking a suitable host venue due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Eubanks said she had no immediate reaction when the matchup was presented by her manager, Ali Abdelaziz.
“I’ve seen her on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’” Eubanks said. “I thought the matchup was great. I’m not picky about my matchups anyway. Usually, whoever they give me, I’m like, ‘Sure.’
“I put my trust in Ali and my cornermen, as far as who they think is best for me. They said, ‘Sarah,’ I said, ‘Sure.’”
It’s an important matchup for Eubanks. After all, three straight defeats isn’t ever a good thing in the UFC, and she realizes the importance of earning a victory. She believes much of the key will simply boil down to keeping her intensity high from start to finish.
“A big focus went into not just my overall cardio, but specifically my grappling and wrestling cardio, as well,” Eubanks said. “Because I want to be able to bring that high-level, exciting fight from bell-to-bell. I just don’t think I did that with Bethe, so we’re going to make sure we fix that coming into April 18.”
If all goes well, Eubanks could register her first victory in the bantamweight division and prove that she still possesses the talents she showed during her “TUF” run. But she insists pleasing critics isn’t a priority right now. Eubanks says she knows what she can do in the cage, and that’s the benchmark this time around.
“The goal is to prove my point to me,” Eubanks said. “I don’t really go out to prove anything to people, per se, but especially with everything that’s going on with the coronavirus, even before it turned into a pandemic, it was just kind of me and the fight. The goal has been to prove, look, I’m here, and I’m a force to be reckoned with. That’s just all it is. I’m here to fight.”
Sijara Eubanks promises pressure at UFC 249: I'm a force to be reckoned with
