Jessica Eye returns home with some cuts and some new bruises, but wins her record as the one-off UFC title challenger comes back from retirement and defeats Mariya Agapova at BKFC 76.
The battle story was volume and accuracy with a wide-ranging light on Agapova, consistently pushing forward to close the distance, then lowering it with a barrage of punches, resulting in a large landing of eyes. When that was finished, Ai did enough to score as he moved 1-0 in the BKFC ring, with the judges scoring 49-45, 50-44, 49-45.
“These bruises are soothing, but evil exists,” my eyes cried out to the Texas crowd. “That’s what you guys came here. Are you not having fun?”
The flyweight exchanged body shots to open a fight with Agapova, then using her reach at distance, his eyes systematically stalking across the ring. She ended up cutting off her eyes from the early exchange, but her eyes showed a lot of confidence while coming after Agapova while trying to set her heavy right hand.
His eyes continued to enter, pushing Agapova against the ropes and then unleashing the barrage of punches. In some wild exchanges, both fighters landed some solid shots, but the eyes were landing with better force.
The end of So-Ai in the third round finally unleashed her biggest punch.
The crowd was a little restless as the eyes constantly moved forward, pushing Agapova into the ropes and trying to throw punches inside. It inevitably led to the judges tearing them apart and resetting them in the center of the ring.
The eyes clipped Agapova with her right hand, undoubtedly drawing her attention just before the fourth round ended.
With two minutes left, the eyes continued to move forward aggressively as they plunged out of Agapova, who had tripped backward before hitting the canvas. Agapova complained that she was pushed in rather than knocked down, but the referee managed the required count before continuing the action.
Just before the battle was over, the eyes returned to their bodies again in another ferocious combination. Overall, Eye threw over 300 strikes during the fight, and she was connected with over 200 shots.
The 38-year-old veteran returned with victory on Saturday after nearly three years of halt, but it appears to be an eye plan to continue his new career that began as a member of the BKFC roster.