Jessica Aguilar defended her World Series of Fighting strawweight title on Saturday over little-known Kalindra Faria, but her performance calls into question her status as the best in the world.
Faria entered on an 11-fight win streak, but that largely came against lesser competition. There were plenty of questions surrounding her entering the fight.
Aguilar didn’t find dispatching Faria to be easy despite the scorecards reading 49-45 across the board. The fight was much closer than that. This should have been a fight where the No. 1-ranked 115-pound fighter would excel and finish.
No matter the method, Aguilar won. But is she the best?
Bleacher Report Lead Writer Jonathan Snowden talked to Aguilar prior to her fight, and she certainly feels she is the best. “I don’t have to make the case. It is what it is,” Aguilar said. “A lot of people say, ‘Do you think you’re the best?’ It’s not if I think. I am the best. Look at my record. This is why I’m No. 1. Yeah, I am the best. I’m going to continue being the best. And I’m going to retire the best.”
Aguilar got the title of being the best by going on a five-fight run and defeating longtime No. 1-ranked Megumi Fujii. Prior to her streak, she faltered in the Bellator 115-pound tournament to Zoila Frausto (now Gurgel).
Her first fight against Fujii was close, and the decision was contentious. In that five-fight run, she scored a split-decision win over Carla Esparza. She wasn’t exactly dominating her competition.
After defeating Patricia Vidonic, Aguilar traveled to Japan to take on Fujii in her retirement bout. She poked the talented submission artist several times in the eye, which halted the fight for a significant period of time. In the States, the fight would have been ruled a no-contest and stopped. However, in Japan, the fight resumed with Fujii barely being able to see. Aguilar coasted to a majority technical decision after two rounds.
Under the WSOF banner, Aguilar has gone 3-0 but failed to fight any true top-of-the-line competition. The other fighters in the top 10 moved to Invicta FC and subsequently have been snatched up by the UFC for its newly created strawweight division.
Can Aguilar truly be considered the best outright if she hasn’t faced the top competition and her big wins have not been dominant? I am not so sure.
In the time since Bellator scrapped its women’s divisions, most of those women have moved on to Invicta or the UFC to battle against one another. They are not shying away from top-end competition.
Former Invicta FC strawweight champion Esparza is 4-0 since losing to Aguilar, and she has fought notable names in the division. She is 1-0 in the UFC’s latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, but the victory will be written down as an exhibition.
Other fighters on TUF 20 have shown dynamic skill sets, and even though the wins will not be counted officially, we are seeing the results on television. Those bouts will not escape our memory when thinking about who is the best.
Aguilar’s combination of not being dominant and fighting lesser competition makes the case of who truly is No. 1 in the strawweight division a debatable one. She is not finishing her fights against lower-level fighters, while the rest of her contemporaries are improving against the best.
Aguilar may very well be the best fighter at this weight right now, but the more time that passes, the more it will be difficult to vote her as such.
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