Jessica Aguilar vs Juliana Lima Officially Confirmed For UFC 197After a disappointing UFC debut in August, former WSOF champion Jessica “Jag” Aguilar looks for a much-needed victory on April 23rd in a strawweight matchup at UFC 197: “Cormier vs Jones 2” in Las Vegas, Nevada. Aguilar is set to face off against Brazilian standout Juliana “Ju Thai” Lima on the card.

UFC officials announced the fight today. Aguilar, who famously declared that she had “decided to become UFC champion” this past year, dropped a lopsided Unanimous Decision to Claudia “Claudinha” Gadelha at UFC 190. Lima has won back-to-back fights and hopes to enter UFC title contention.

Aguilar (19-5-0) reigned unbeaten for close to five years during her time with Bellator and World Series of Fighting. The stretch included notable but controversial victories over Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii (twice) and bitter rival Carla “Cookie Monster” Esparza, and Aguilar was crowned as the inaugural WSOF Women’s Strawweight Champion in early 2014 when she submitted Alida Gray. This past year, Aguilar signed with the UFC and set her sights on capturing another title, but she was never able to get anything going in her debut against Gadelha and tasted defeat for the first time since September 2010.

Lima (8-2-0) was discounted by many following a July 2014 decision loss to current UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Joanna JÄ™drzejczyk in her Octagon debut, but the Brazilian veteran has since rebounded with two key victories that have brought her back into the strawweight title picture. In May, Lima earned one of her biggest victories to date by shutting down grappling specialist Ericka Almeida en route to a commanding Unanimous Decision win. She now takes a step up in competition to face Aguilar, and a victory could potentially propel Lima into a title eliminator bout later this year.

UFC 197: “Cormier vs Jones 2” takes place on April 23rd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is headlined by a UFC Light Heavyweight Championship rematch between champion Daniel “D.C.” Cormier and former titleholder Jon “Bones” Jones.

 

 

(Photo Credit: UFC)

  1. UFC’s 115lb division is the most exciting, competitive in all of MMA. Any matchup between any two women in the top 15 is intriguing – Aguilar vs Lima is just one of literally dozens of great potential match ups. Even the unranked Strawweights are exceptional. This division is a tsunami. I can’t wait for the UFC to add the 125b women’s division.