Although a pioneer in women’s MMA, Jessica Aguilar is not satisfied with how her past few fights have gone.
Aguilar (20-8), a former WSOF strawweight champion, came into the UFC in 2015 with a lot of momentum but never quite lived up to her potential. She went 1-4 in the octagon, with her lone win coming over Jodie Esquibel, before getting released from the promotion in May 2019.
But Aguilar, who holds notable wins over former UFC strawweight champ Carla Esparza and Megumi Fujii twice, still has more to give and is ready for a new chapter in her career with Xtreme Fighting Championships (XFC).
A longtime American Top Team member, Aguilar recently relocated to Houston and has been training at Main Street Boxing and Muay Thai in preparation for her fight against fellow ex-UFC strawweight Danielle Taylor Wednesday in the co-main event of XFC 43.
“I’m just excited to get back in there, still doing what I love to do,” Aguilar told MMA Junkie. “It’s almost been 15 years, I have unfinished business for myself, and I’m just excited.”
She continued, “I feel like the past couple of fights in my career and while I was in the UFC, I didn’t do well, so I kind of just want to redeem myself, and I know I’m better than that. So I’m just going to keep having fun until my body says, ‘That’s it, it’s time to leave.’ But it’s still not time to leave for myself.”
It’s not often that Aguilar enters a bout with a size advantage, but when she takes on 5-foot-tall Taylor, she will look to fully capitalize.
“My reach is longer than hers, so I just plan on staying present and staying calm and just using what I have and that experience that I have to take her down and submit her,” she said.
Ex-UFC strawweight Jessica Aguilar looking to address ‘unfinished business’ at XFC 43