WOMEN OF ACTION

Jessica Eye

UFC FEMALE FLYWEIGHT FIGHTER

LOSING THREE fights in a row is the unofficial Mendoza Line of the UFC. Only a few special fighters have been allowed to stay with the organization after four consecutive losses, so when UFC president Dana White called Jessica Eye the Monday after her fourth loss back in 2016, she expected the worst.

“I was like, ‘You guys are going to cut me, aren’t you?’ He said, ‘No, but I want you to take some time off and get your mind right,’ ” Eye says. “My dad had died in July. I was dealing with a lot. I thought I could push through that. But I wasn’t fully me on that fight day.”

A string of losses nearly cost Jessica Eye her spot in the UFC, until a change in weight class and mindset revitalized her career and turned her into a force.

The UFC is filled with athletes who fight well, but White has a soft spot for those rare specimens who have combat coursing through their veins, the type of fighters who live to hear the gate of the Octagon click shut behind