Written by Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Jessica Eye is set to officially return from retirement when she makes her bare-knuckle debut against fellow octagon veteran Mariya Agapova at the upcoming BKFC 76 card on June 21 from Fort Worth, Texas.
BKFC officials confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Wednesday.
Eye, a 27-fight MMA veteran, retired from competition back in 2022 after she suffered a fourth consecutive defeat in the UFC. The former UFC title contender stayed out of the sport until announcing her plans to return to action back in April after inking a deal to join the roster at BKFC.
At her peak, Eye was one of the top women’s fighters in the world with rankings at both bantamweight and flyweight throughout her career. She reached the pinnacle in 2019 when she fought for the UFC flyweight title, but she suffered a head-kick knockout loss to Valentina Shevchenko.
As for Agapova, the 28-year-old fighter came storming into the UFC with an impressive debut back in 2020, but the honeymoon was over one fight later when she suffered a loss to Sabina Mazo. Following that loss, Agapova went just 1-3 in her final four fights with the UFC before being removed from the roster in July 2024.
Now Agapova makes the move to bare-knuckle fighting with a showdown booked against Eye as part of the first BKFC card in Texas.
The upcoming BKFC 76 card is headlined by a title fight rematch between Franco Tenaglia and Tony Soto after they went to war in one of the craziest bouts in bare-knuckle history with Conor McGregor rewarding both fighters with double their purse money as a reward.