Sijara Eubanks is making history on Saturday night as she will tie Hannah Cfiers for the fastest turnaround for a female fighter in UFC history. She will also be the first fighter in this COVID-19 era to fight in Jacksonville, the UFC Apex and Fight Island, the three spots the UFC has held events.
Eubanks, who is coming off a decision win over Sept. 12, got a call just days later to fly out to Fight Island to fight Kelten Vieira.
For Eubanks, after she beat Julia Avila, she wanted to fight sometime later this year. Yet, when she got a call just three days after her win to fight the following Saturday on Fight Island it was an immediate yes.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”645482″ player=”20625″ title=”Just Scrap Radio Ep. 11 (w Blachowicz KaraFrance Eubanks & Royval)” duration=”3977″ description=”In the 11th episode of Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com, host Cole Shelton is joined by Jan Blachowicz, Kai Kara-France, Sijara Eubanks & Brandon Royval” uploaddate=”2020-09-22 00:14:41″ thumbnailurl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/15717/thumb/645482_t_1600733933.png” contentUrl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/15717/sd/645482.mp4″”]
“Tuesday night after my win I found out. I was back home in Jersey and hanging out with my family and my manager called and said it is time to re-negotiate,” Eubanks said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “He was asking me when I want to fight again. I was thinking around November, December just get one more in this year. An hour later he called back and was like how about next week. I have always wanted to do some gangster moves like that so I was like hell yeah.
“I’m here to cash cheques. That is part of the motivation, they offered me a nice chunk of cash so we have to take that,” she later added. “I feel like a hired assassin. They called me up, ran some numbers and we got on a plane to handle some business.”
Entering the fight, to no surprise to Eubanks, she is the betting underdog. Yet, she is no stranger to being the underdog and expects to pull off another upset win to put her into the top-10 of the division.
“I’m better on paper when it comes to jiu-jitsu. I’m confident on the ground, confident in my wrestling and my boxing. She is a tough opponent and has some finishes,” Sijara Eubanks said. “I’m always looking for that finish and I think this one will be a David and Goliath story. I will be an underdog again, short notice and we know how that story ended.”
Sijara Eubanks also expects her cardio to be the difference maker in the fight. She believes she’ll be able to gas out Vieira with her wrestling and striking.
“I have always thought I have good cardio because I can wrestle. Anyone can shadow box for 25 minutes. When you start adding kicks and grappling that is when the tank goes to empty,” she said. “I have always valued my cardio. My coaches have made sure I can throw and wrestle from round to round.”
For Eubanks, the goal is to beat Vieira and possibly get another fight in 2020 to enter title contention by 2021.
Do you think Sijara Eubanks will beat Ketlen Vieira at UFC 253?