The NYSAC will end up in court over their decision to pull Aguilar from her UFC Uticah fight under questionable circumstances.
Jessica Aguilar came into the UFC with a lot of hype as the former WSOF women’s strawweight champ and a top namte at 115 pounds for over five years. Unfortunately, that didn’t help her much upon arrival, and she’s gone 0-2 in her first two fights. As if that wasn’t bad enough, her next UFC fight with Jodie Esquibel at UFC Uticah was called off last minute by the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) over … chapped lips?
Her fight with Equibel will now go down tonight, July 14th, at UFC Fight Night: dos Santos vs. Ivanov in Boise, Idaho. But that’s not the only battle she’s got going on. According to MMA Fighting, she’s also taken legal action against the NYSAC for randomly pulling her off UFC Uticah.
“I was the sacrificial lamb that day [in Utica],” Aguilar said. “It is what it is. I’ve been talking about it for the last month. It’s something my attorneys are dealing with. I’m moving forward. I’m just thinking about my fight, what’s in front of me now. And I’m ready to get this over with.”
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“It’s pretty hard to go against the commission,” Aguilar said. “It’ll cost a lot of money. They just don’t think about how much they affect, not only my career, but my whole entire life, my reputation that I’ve always had clear. Just everything. I don’t know why [NYSAC executive director Kim Sumbler] did that, but they’re taking care of that right now. Right now, all I want to focus on is my fight Saturday and leave that up to the attorneys and see what they can do about it.”
The NYSAC has a long history of strange decisions, which is impressive considering MMA in the state has only been legal since 2016. It’s gotten to the point where a growing list of UFC fighters have no interest in fighting in New York. The tax situation is apparently brutal, and then who wants to risk being pulled off the card on fight week?
As Aguilar mentioned, the perception at this point is that someone always gets ‘picked’ by the commission, like some sort of overcompensation for the mess New York allowed to happen with boxer Magomed Abdusalamov. Abdusalamov remains partially paralyzed and the subject of a $100 million dollar lawsuit against the NYSAC.
”It’s definitely interesting dealing with New York,” Dana White said following UFC 223 at Madison Square Garden, which saw the NYSAC pull Max Holloway from his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov. “Very different from everywhere else. But these guys just had a situation here not too long ago so I think they’re overly cautious, which they should be.”
In this case with Jessica Aguilar, being overly cautious may come back to bite the NYSAC as well.