Sijara Eubanks has made a puzzling call out. The top-ranked women’s flyweight is coming off a big win over Roxanne Modafferi and was briefly tied to a title fight at UFC 230 before the promotion went in another direction. Instead of demanding a fight against the winner of the Valentina Shevchenko vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk fight at UFC 231, or another top fighter at 125, she instead took to Twitter to call out strawweight Mackenzie Dern:
There are extenuating circumstances here. Both ladies have had trouble making weight, with Eubanks missing for the Modafferi fight and Dern missing badly for her last 115-pound fight against Amanda Cooper. There is every chance that Dern competes at 125 next. But still, it’s a bit odd.
The ladies have competed in jiu jitsu against each other multiple times before, with each both holding victories over the other. That was a long time ago though (around seven years), so things have changed a lot since then. Also, this is MMA. Eubanks and Dern have both made their mark in mixed martial arts, each picking up two impressive wins in the UFC thus far. Dern hasn’t competed since May without another booking on the horizon, while Eubanks competed last month.
Could this fight actually come together? It’s certainly interesting on paper.