UFC's Jessica Aguilar discusses injury prior to Claudia Gadelha loss

Entering the UFC riding a 10-fight winning streak and in the conversation of best strawweights on the planet, Jessica Aguilar had a lot to live up to in her octagon debut.

Unfortunately for the 33-year-old, she dropped a decision to Claudia Gadelha at UFC 190 and immediately took several steps back in the race to challenge for champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk’s title. The reason for the disappointing performance, according to Aguilar (19-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC), was the decision to try to battle through an injury in her first UFC bout.

“I went in with a broken foot,” Aguilar told MMAjunkie while in attendance at UFC Fight Night 78 in Mexico this past weekend. “My right foot was broken. I made a wrong decision. You know, it was kind of a lose-lose situation. It was my first fight in the UFC, and I just couldn’t say no. I felt like I was letting people down and letting myself down. In the end, it was still a losing situation. But, hey, I know that I won’t go in there injured anymore, and we’ll move forward.”

Aguilar, a former WSOF champion, said her body is healing up well and she plans to return to the cage in early 2016.

She also hasn’t backed off from her plan of becoming a UFC champ, but she intends to approach her future fights with a bit more awareness of her health.

“My goal is to get back to that belt,” Aguilar said. “This is why I came to the UFC, to prove who is the best. And I’m going to get that belt. If that (a rematch with Gadelha) is on my way there, hey, we’re going to do it again, and this time I’m going to go in healthy. I don’t want to make excuses or anything, but I have to be real and let you all know what happened. It was my decision, and the wrong decision was made on my end, but we live and learn.”

Check out the full video above to hear Aguilar discuss her injury, debut and her thoughts on Jedrzejczyk’s recent title defense.

And for more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.