Jessica Eye leaves mixed martial arts after losing to Maycee Barber

Veteran Jessica “Evil” Eye announced her retirement from the ufc after suffering a difficult defeat to Maycee Barber at Saturday’s enormous UFC 276 event.

“I’ve got to do it the way I wanted to,” Eye told reporters at a post-fight news conference. “Yeah, I’m sad. Yeah, it’s going to be hard. It’s going to have its days. But I’m excited for what I can do next. I’m excited for all the other opportunities. I know that Jessica ‘Evil’ Eye doesn’t end in the UFC octagon. Jessica ‘Evil’ Eye finds her way in other directions. I’m ready to embrace that.”

The choice was emotional, and it was not anything Eye had planned ahead of time. In recent years, Eye has coped with a slew of health concerns in the midst of four successive defeats. The timing felt appropriate to leave.

“It’s been a really rough year for me between last year, splitting my forehead open. I thought I won that fight,” Eye said. “Thankfully, that whole year I went through a lot. I had sepsis in October and almost died back in October. Then I had some injuries throughout camp. I was supposed to fight Manon from France on a card here. I ended up breaking my nose. I found out that I had a parasite I’ve been living with for the past five-and-a-half years that was taking my gallbladder and taking so many things. My health has just been up and down.”

Jessica Eye debuted in the UFC in October 2013 and has now fought 16 times for the promotion. She fought dominating flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko for the championship in 2019, but was knocked out by a brutal headkick. Overall, she is 5-10, with one no-contest.

Eye has a notion about what comes next. She experimented in professional wrestling during the epidemic. If she could, she’d be going down a WWE or AEW wrestling entrance ramp right now.

“I’ve always wanted to dabble in pro wrestling,” Eye said. “I want to be the female Undertaker. I want to ride a motorcycle down to the octagon and DDT somebody. I’d love to do that. … AEW, WWE, let’s go. Jessica ‘Evil’ Eye is ready. Jessica ‘Evil’ Eye does not end here. She’s just starting a new journey.”