Watch: When Elise Reed suffered a devastating eye injury during UFC debut

Luthfi Prawiro

UFC strawweight Elise Reed has successfully scored her first victory inside the octagon when she dueled against a UK fan favorite Cory McKenna at UFC London this past Saturday night.

But before finally earning her victory in the UFC, she had to go through a rough debut with the then-undefeated Reed facing a veteran in Sijara Eubanks.

Walking into the octagon with an undefeated record of 4-0 after snatching the Cage Fury FC strawweight championship, Reed was matched against the former TUF semi-finalist in Eubanks in July 2021.

Eubanks was initially set up to match up with Karol Rosa a month prior, but Rosa pulled out due to injury. ‘SarJ’ then pulled out from the card as well.

Instead she got a replacement duel against Reed on the undercard of Cory Sandhagen vs TJ Dillashaw.

Veteran Eubanks completely broke the newcomer Reed in a one-sided beatdown.

The experience gave Eubanks the clear edge. She secured an early takedown with relative ease, and proceed to transition into the full mount position fast.

From there, she launched a heavy barrage of unanswered ground and pound that prompted the referee to stop the fight under four minutes in the very first round.

Reed had to swallow the first loss in her professional career in addition to having also received startling injuries to her face, especially her right eye, which was completely swollen shut.

Now more than half a year after the devastating loss, the Kickside Martial Arts fighter is finally back with a win in her column as she edges the young Welsh up-and-comer, Cory McKenna by decision.

It wasn’t easy for the American Reed considering McKenna’s grappling proved to be big source of trouble for her. But Reed kept her composure and outlanded her opponent by 20 significant strikes.

One judge scored the match 30-27 against her but he was overruled by the other two that gave her 29-28, in the end Reed earned a split decision victory in her second UFC outing.