Preview: UFC 264 Prelims

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Women’s Flyweights

#4 WFLW | Jennifer Maia (18-7-1, 3-3 UFC) vs. #7 WFLW | Jessica Eye (15-9, 5-8 UFC)

ODDS: Maia (-175), Eye (+155)

After a surprisingly strong performance against Valentina Shevchenko, Maia looks to get back in the win column here. Maia came into the UFC as the Invicta Fighting Championships flyweight titleholder, owing most of her success to a “swing and cling” approach. She is typically a pressuring fighter who favors throwing power, mostly as an avenue towards getting into the clinch and bullying her opponents. That ran Maia into a wall in her UFC debut against Liz Carmouche, but the Brazilian adapted just enough to make a run towards title contention, even if her getting a shot at Shevchenko in November felt like the best of a bunch of lackluster options. Maia essentially served the same role for Shevchenko that Tim Elliott did during Demetrious Johnson’s title run. The champion walked away with a clear win, but Maia managed to cause some early trouble and even take a round with her size and strength.

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Maia looks to rebound opposite a fellow former title challenger in Eye, who is surprisingly in need of a win. Eye is not a particularly popular fighter, but that has led to her bag of skills often being underrated, and she was an early beneficiary of the UFC introducing a 125-pound division. The victim of many close losses at bantamweight, Eye’s additional strength advantage at flyweight tipped the scales just enough for her to get some wins and earn a shot at Shevchenko. “Bullet” quickly ended Eye’s night with a highlight-reel head kick, but it looked like the Xtreme Couture rep would recover well enough after a bounce-back win against Viviane Araujo. However, Eye’s last two efforts have resulted in flat performances against Cynthia Calvillo and Joanne Calderwood; this also looks to be a difficult fight for the Ohioan. Eye typically relies on a bit of a power and strength advantage, and Maia figures to be the much stronger fighter in any clinch or wrestling exchanges. Maia’s lack of foot speed serves as an opening for Eye if she decides to adopt a more mobile and range-heavy approach, but without some sort of major adaptation on her part, this appears to be the Brazilian’s fight to lose. The pick is Maia via decision.

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