UFC Vegas 40 Fighter to Watch: Sijara Eubanks
Back at flyweight, former Ultimate Fighter finalist could emerge as a title contender in 2022
Name: Sijara Eubanks
Nickname: SarJ
Record: 7-6 overall, 5-4 UFC
Division: Flyweight
Team: Nick Catone MMA
Opponent: Luana Carolina (7-2 overall, 2-1 UFC)
Right now, Sijara Eubanks’ legacy revolves around her challenges making the 125-pound flyweight limit.
A contestant on Season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter, Eubanks entered as the No. 12 seed and authored a similar Cinderella-esque run to the finals as eventual winner and inaugural UFC flyweight champion Nicco Montano, posting victories over No. 5 seed Maia Stevenson, No. 4 seed DeAnna Bennett, and No. 1 seed Roxanne Modafferi. She, like Montano, fought the highest ranked opponent she could possibly face in each round, and beat them to advance to the finals, but she never made it to the championship fight.
The day before the event, Eubanks was pulled from the title bout due to medical complications arising from her weight cut. She was replaced by Modafferi, who dropped a five-round decision to Montano, and the first paragraph of her MMA biography was written. While she returned seven months later, made weight without issue, and beat Lauren Murphy, her nemesis from the show and an established contender within the division, Eubanks missed weight for her next outing — a rematch with Modafferi — and was told her future was at bantamweight.
She moved up, went 2-4 over an entertaining, but middling run in the 135-pound ranks, and seemed poised to be someone that lived in the 12-20 range in division, depending on the comings and goings within the division and whether a couple things broke her way or not.
But then in July, Eubanks was booked for a return to flyweight against unbeaten CFFC strawweight champ Elise Reed. She weighed in at 125 pounds even, and the following evening, she dominated the undersized and overmatched Reed, securing a first-round stoppage win with the kind of one-sided effort that forced you to ponder what could be if Eubanks can consistently make the flyweight limit without issue.
It’s never been about talent with the 36-year-old, who is a legitimate Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, strong as an ox, and tougher than shoe leather; the weight has been the sticking point, as despite her power, the five-foot-four Eubanks is slightly undersized and therefore often overmatched competing up at bantamweight. Her grit and tenacity allowed her to be competitive, earn a couple victories, and pair with Aspen Ladd for one helluva scrap a few years back, but when it came down to it, she was all too often a step behind in one way or another, and unless you’re just otherworldly talented, it becomes a numbers game that is never going to work out in your favor.
But if Eubanks can make 125 without issue — because she’s used up all her “Free Passes” for missing weight — she has a skill set and repertoire that is different than anyone else in the division and makes her an intriguing addition to the championship chase.
She’s developed her hands to where she’s comfortable getting into a boxing match and has the power to alter fights. She has the wrestling ability drag fights to the ground, the grappling know-how to be successful in scrambles, and the pressure and diversity of attacks to dominate from top position if she gets there. While the fight with Reed isn’t a perfect indicator because she is best suited to fighting at atomweight, Eubanks’ ability to dominate that fight on the canvas wasn’t strictly a size thing.
“SarJ” has serious skills and presents a problem for opponents on the ground, and it makes her a potential threat in the 125-pound weight class going forward.
Here bout this weekend against Carolina is an opportunity for the Nick Catone MMA representative to continue proving herself in her new, old division — to step on the scale on Friday morning and come in below the 126-pound limit, and then step into the Octagon on Saturday and make the most of this short notice opportunity against a rangy opponent that has won seven of her last eight fights. It’s not the same as beating a ranked opponent, but given her struggles in the past, Eubanks is going to have a longer road to facing established names, though she can probably expedite things by replicating the performance she turned in against Reed against Carolina on Saturday night.
While she’s still shorter than most of the top contenders in the division, that height difference isn’t joined by a difference in strength and speed and all the other elements that worked against her at bantamweight; she’s probably behind in the speed department still too, but her power and physicality are major pluses now, where they didn’t shift things much up a division.
And while it was a few years ago, it has to be recognized that Eubanks already holds a victory over Murphy, who just fought for the title and was unbeaten since that fight prior to sharing the cage with Valentina Shevchenko a couple weeks back. That fight was scored 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 by the judges, and all of the media members that weighed in on MMADecisions.com had the fight in Eubanks’ favor as well, with 17 of the 18 scoring it 30-27.
Murphy has certainly improved since then, but it stands to reason that Eubanks has too after three-plus additional years working with Mark Henry, Ricardo Almeida, Nick Catone, and the rest of the Garden State crew.
Just as it’s going to take a couple more makes on the scale and victories in the Octagon before Eubanks earns a number beside her name and a chance to face someone in a comparable position, a quick glance at the current rankings shows there is room for movement and opportunities to make headway in the division if she can keep winning on Friday mornings and Saturday nights.
Eubanks has the opportunity to be a factor in the division in 2022, and is worth paying close attention to this weekend… maybe even a day earlier too.