Jessica Aguilar (18-4), who defends her strawweight championship against Kalindra Faria (15-3) in Tampa, Florida, on Saturday, has two messages to the women’s MMA world.
First, she’s happy where she is, fighting for the World Series of Fighting and flying the flag for women’s MMA on NBC sports.
“They’ve given me this opportunity” Aguilar told Bleacher Report in an exclusive interview. “They believe in me. They are treating me like a champion. They are just two years in, and they’ve come so far. I’m really grateful to them.”
Second?
She’s the best in the world. And don’t you forget it.
“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.”
It’s a bold statement, but one delivered matter-of-factly. Aguilar doesn’t exude bravado like a Conor McGregor or Chael Sonnen. Instead, it’s a quiet confidence, one bred by success, with wins over the sport’s top fighters such as Carla Esparza, Megumi Fujii and Lisa Ellis.
But confidence has never been Aguilar’s problem. It’s led her across the country to pursue film work and led her into the ring for her very first professional fight in 2006 on less than one week’s notice.
Discovered at a jiu-jitsu tournament when she demanded to compete with men if no women showed up in her weight class, Aguilar was offered a spot in the Absolute Fighting Championship for her gumption. She knew so little about MMA, she assumed the $300 the promoter mentioned was the cost to enter the competition.
“I asked ‘When do I have to pay you?’ I had done a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament, and there was an entry fee. So I thought it was kind of the same thing. He laughed at me and said, ‘I pay you.’ So I said, ‘Wait a minute. Exactly what will I be doing?'” Aguilar said with a laugh. “I guess I was in the right place at the right time.
“At the time I had no idea what American Top Team was. I didn’t even know what MMA was. I had just been training for two months. The matchmaker was looking for a 115-pound girl. I had just moved to South Florida. I thought, ‘Nobody knows me here.’ I’m just going to do it. So I had five days to train for my first professional fight.
“Since I was a little girl I’ve always done a lot of what I want. So it wasn’t a surprise to my family. People knew if they dared me I would do it. I’ve always liked adventure. I thought, ‘OK, I’m fighting.’ I didn’t think of it as being a professional fighter. I didn’t understand it yet.”
She lost that first fight to The Ultimate Fighter competitor Lisa Ellis. But co-workers at the mortgage company where she worked bought enough tickets to turn a $300 pay day into a $1,200 pay day. And Aguilar, long a gym rat and athlete who grew up a tomboy alongside two brothers, had a new dream.
“Things just started happening very quickly. I decided to take it to the next level and join American Top Team and train with professionals and top trainers” Aguilar said. “It’s like Disneyland for MMA. They have everything. I work with the best coaches in the world. Great training partners. It’s the place to be if you want to become a professional MMA fighter.”
In 2010 Aguilar, who jumped from job to job, working as everything from a lab technician to a corrections officer, faced a fork in the road. She could pursue her dream, one that seemed a bit far-fetched at a time when Bellator’s MTV2 exposure was the best thing going for the sport’s 115-pounders. Or she could continue living a double life as a civilian/fighter.
Aguilar, as is her wont, lept into the fray. She quit her job setting up installations for Home Depot and decided to invest everything into fighting.
“I’m very fortunate and blessed that this is my full-time job. I had this goal. I remember when I quit my job and people said, ‘You’re quitting to fight? You’re never going to make money in this sport. It’s never going to happen.’
“I just decided to go for what I wanted to. Here I am today. This is all I do,” Aguilar said. “And I set my goal—to become the best in the world. I have this opportunity to become a professional athlete. I’m going to become the best at it.”
It’s been quite a journey for Aguilar as women’s MMA fought for attention and respect, she and the sport on similar trajectories. She lost to Zoila Gurgel in that initial Bellator tournament but rallied to beat women’s MMA pioneer Megumi Fujii twice.
“That was my role model. She was my idol. She still is. She was the person I wanted to be like when I started the sport, and I started getting to know the girls.
“I followed her career for a long time, and in 2012 we competed in the Bellator cage. Pretty amazing,” Aguilar said. “To get invited for her hometown in Japan for her retirement fight was amazing as well. For that fight my mom went with me, so it was a pretty cool experience.”
In 2013, after Bellator disbanded their women’s division, Aguilar signed with World Series of Fighting as their first female fighter and brand ambassador.
Though she is paid a significant $17,500 to show and $17,500 to win (more than UFC paid title contender Sara McMann to put it in context), it had to sting a little when UFC signed 11 of the best fighters at her weight class, including teammate Tecia Torres, to compete in The Ultimate Fighter just a month later.
Ever upbeat, Aguilar will look to make the best of the final two fights on her WSOF contract before exploring her future. Although the UFC has signed many of the top competitors, she insists that the division can support a career outside the ubiquitous powerhouse.
“Oh yeah—115 pounds is a deep division. You still have a lot of talent that people don’t know about,” Aguilar said. “For example, the girl I’m fighting, Kalindra Faria. She has an amazing record; she’s been around for a long time, and people don’t know her.
“That just goes to show you that there are people out there who are talented and have skills but people don’t know them. There is still a lot of talent out there that hasn’t signed. The UFC doesn’t have them all. I’m happy what the UFC is doing with the girls’ division. I have a teammate there. It’s awesome for the sport. It’s awesome for the ladies. I just want to continue fighting the best. And beating them.”
World Series of Fighting airs Saturday, November 15, at USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla., live on NBC Sports Network (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).
Jonathan Snowden is Bleacher Report’s Lead Combat Sports Writer. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes acquired firsthand.
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