“I would hate to look back and tell my daughter, ‘I was a professional fighter and I was a seven-time world jiu-jitsu champion and I had access to all this wonderful training, wonderful coaches and then you were born and I decided to be like, ‘never mind,’” chuckles the proud 32-year-old mom and one half of Friday’s championship main event to determine the inaugural UFC women’s flyweight titleholder. “I couldn’t stomach the thought, so it did give me an extra boost.

“She was four-weeks old when they announced TUF and I thought, ‘This is perfect.’ How can I sit up here and tell my kid The Ultimate Fighter trials came around and it was at ’25, not ’35 so I decided I’ll pass? Naw, man – you lose the extra 10 pounds and you tell your kid you did it.”

Having previously competed at bantamweight, shedding the additional 10 pounds to make the flyweight limit (and keeping it off between bouts) proved challenging for this year’s 12th seed, but Eubanks always managed to hit the mark on the scales, and when she stepped into the Octagon, “SarJ” proved that counting her out because of her low seeding and difficult path to the finals was a grave mistake.

After submitting fifth seed Maia Stevenson in the opening round of the competition, Eubanks knocked out perennial Invicta FC contender and fourth seed DeAnna Bennett with a perfectly placed head kick in the quarterfinals. She followed it up by beating top seed Roxanne Modafferi, completing her own upset-laden run to the finals, where she faces No. 14 seed Nicco Montano on Friday.

Both finalists traveled the toughest road possible to arrive opposite one another in Friday’s championship clash and Eubanks wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“Between the two of us we’ve taken out the Top 6,” says Eubanks, who dispatched numbers one, four and five, while Montano ousted numbers two, three and six en route to this weekend’s historic main event. “I think it’s exciting and true fans will recognize that’s the beauty of MMA – it’s whomever is the best that day.

“You know from the show that I had a little chip on my shoulder from being No. 12 – I felt that I should have gotten a more respectable ranking – but at the end of the day, your rank doesn’t matter. You’re going to have to fight three fights to get out of the house and your fourth fight to win the title, so I knew I was going to have four fights in front of me.

“When I did start to see the bracket fill out, I got excited because (1) I am going to prove I’m better than everyone in this house and this ranking is bad, but (2) because I was ranked so low, I get the experience of fighting the highest level of girls in the house and that’s what I wanted.

“Not only do I get to yell at (UFC President) Dana (White) and ask for bonus money because I finished the higher seeds, I get the experience of fighting well-rounded opponents and I think that was more beneficial to me than anything else in the house.”

Long before she got the benefit of sharing the cage with some of the top seeded competitors on this season of the long-running reality TV competition, Eubanks was able to gain invaluable knowledge about competing at the highest level in the sport by sharing the mats and studying the habits of the elite competitors who traveled through the doors at Team Lloyd Irvin.

Though she’s since moved on from training with the Maryland-based outfit, those hours spent alongside the likes of Phil Davis, Mike Easton, James Vick and Dominick Cruz helped the standout grappler understand the effort and sacrifice it would take not only to reach the UFC, but to excel on the biggest stage in the sport.

“You get to see first-hand what athletes so through to be in the UFC and be at the highest level of the UFC,” says Eubanks, who carried a 2-2 record into the TUF 26 competition. “A lot of people looked at my record and yeah, it’s four fights, but it’s also 10 years of dedication and hard work and training and repetitions and competition.

“Dominick Cruz was one of the best ever at 135 – he held it down for years and years and years coming out of the WEC – and just to get to pick his brain, see the thought processes he went through, the mental fortitude, the actual physical training that he did, the way he drilled, the way he carried himself, it was almost like practice; it was almost like training to be in that lifestyle. Now that it’s here, it’s like I trained, I did it before and I’ve just got to execute.”

Eubanks has been excellent in her execution throughout her run to the finals and if she’s able to replicate those efforts one more time, her Cinderella run to the championship finals of Season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter will have a happy ending – one that she’s envisioned countless times over and that words can’t do justice just quite yet.

“That’s the question I get asked the most and for me, it’s always the hardest one because it’s so difficult to put it into words; it’s hard to verbalize the feelings because I see it in my head all the time,” she replies when asked about winning the flyweight title. “I can close my eyes and feel the weight of the belt around my waist.

“I’ve practiced posing in the mirror with the belt and all that and it’s still overwhelming because when I first started martial arts, it was almost like a daydream, but then it became a goal. It’s almost like I went from being on this path, driving this rickety, broken-down ride trying to get to where I’m going and somebody hands me the keys to a Ferrari and puts me in the fast lane.”

She makes the sound of a car speeding off down the highway and chases it with a laugh.

“It’s all the adrenaline, hard work and goosebumps and sacrifices and long nights coming together in one beautiful moment,” she adds. “I can’t wait, man. It’s exciting.”

The first card of the week had to come second in this week’s tandem OTR offerings because Friday’s championship pairing wasn’t revealed until last night.

But now that we know who will be throwing down in the quest to become the inaugural women’s flyweight champion, it’s time to take a look at the emerging talents to watch on this weekend’s initial event.

This is the Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale Edition of On the Rise.

Nicco Montano

Given that she was considering taking a break from fighting to go back to school when tryouts for this season of The Ultimate Fighter were announced, it’s safe to say things have gone pretty well for the 28-year-old Montano.

The Fit NHB product entered the competition as the 14th seed, but has strung together upset wins over Lauren Murphy, Montana De La Rosa and Barb Honchak, all by decision, to arrive as one half of the initial pairing to battle for the UFC women’s flyweight title. In addition to logging a great deal of time in the Octagon during her three tournament wins, Montano has also prepped for championship fights in the past, as each of her last two appearances before the show were five-round title fights.

After starting the year with a loss and being unsure about continuing her career, Montano has rattled off three straight impressive performances and stands on the precipice of history. With one more victory, she will etch her name in the record books as the first UFC women’s flyweight champion.

Sijara Eubanks

Montano isn’t the only Cinderella at this ball, however, as Eubanks has followed a similar underdog path to join her in the Octagon for Friday’s championship main event.

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, the 12th-seeded “SarJ” showcased her submission skills in her opening round victory over fifth-ranked Maia Stevenson in the opening round and then showed off her power by knocking out perennial Invicta FC contender DeAnna Bennett in the quarterfinals before upsetting top seed Roxanne Modafferi to advance to the finals opposite Montano.

Having come up on the mats alongside a host of familiar names and established talents like Dominick Cruz, Phil Davis and Mike Easton, the 32-year-old Eubanks has been able to make a quick ascent since turning pro in April 2015, collecting a pair of victories and learning a great deal from setbacks to current UFC fighters Katlyn Chookagian and Aspen Ladd along the way.

For the first time all season, she enters Friday’s championship bout as the higher seed, but you can be sure she’ll carry the same underdog mindset and toughness she’s shown throughout the competition into the cage this weekend as she tries to become the first UFC women’s flyweight champion.

Sean O’Malley

“Sugar” Sean set the Octagon ablaze this summer with his first-round knockout win over Alfred Khashakyan on the second week of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series.

One of several promising, young upstarts from the MMA Lab to be on the lookout for, the 23-year-old bantamweight is a bundle of excitement and swagger when he’s in the cage, happy to take one to land one and confident that his shot is going to put his opponent down. Tall for the division and sporting a mop of curls reminiscent of Charlie Brenneman back in the day, O’Malley has rattled off eight straight victories to start his career, collecting six first-round stoppages and only going the distance once.

This weekend, the charismatic upstart squares off with Terrion Ware in his toughest test to date. A 31-year-old veteran with a ton of experience under his belt, Ware is the most seasoned foe O’Malley has faced thus far, but if the John Crouch pupil can continue his winning ways and deliver another memorable performance, we could see “Sugar Sean” get a serious push in 2018.

Tickets for Jacare-Brunson 2, which takes place at Spectrum Center, go on sale on Dec. 15.

A native of Wilmington, the No. 7-ranked Brunson will fight in his home state for the first time since 2010, and after back-to-back knockouts of Dan Kelly and Lyoto Machida, he is showing the best form of his career heading into his rematch with Souza, who stopped him in a 2012 Strikeforce bout. Currently ranked fifth in the middleweight division, Brazil’s Souza has earned Performance of the Night bonuses in his last two wins against Vitor Belfort and Tim Boetsch, and though he fell short of victory in his last bout against Robert Whittaker in April, he’s amped up to put an end to Brunson’s winning streak this January.

UFC 220, which airs live on Pay-Per-View, takes place at TD Garden. Tickets go on sale on Dec. 15.

Eager to defend his crown once more, two-time Olympian Daniel Cormier is adding to his legacy with each fight, and after defeating the likes of Alexander Gustafsson, Anthony Johnson, Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson over the last three-plus years, he wants to begin 2018 with another stellar victory when he meets the No. 2-ranked Oezdemir, a Switzerland native who made a name for himself in the Octagon with wins over Ovince Saint Preux, Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa, the latter two victories taking a combined 70 seconds.

Rolling into Detroit Rock City, Eddie Alvarez can’t wait for Saturday night to arrive.

“I want Saturday to be here already,” said the former lightweight champion, in town to battle Justin Gaethje in a fight that Alvarez believes will determine the most violent man in the UFC.

Given their respective histories inside the cage, it’s hard to argue with the Philadelphia native’s assessment.

Before he rose to the top of the 155-pound ranks in the UFC, Alvarez spent nearly a dozen years taking part in epic encounters all around the globe, coming away on the happy side of the result far more often than not and building a reputation as one of the grittiest, toughest fighters in the sport.

So far in his professional career, Gaethje has proven to be cut from the same cloth – a tough-as-nails brawler who would rather wade into danger in an effort to deliver the most entertaining fight possible, even if it means catching one on the chin and getting put down for the count. Thus far, no one has been able to get the better of Gaethje, who pushed his unbeaten streak to 18 with second-round stoppage win over Michael Johnson in his promotional debut – a back-and-forth slobberknocker that is the frontrunner for Fight of the Year as the final month of 2017 gets underway.

For Alvarez, the idea of sharing the Octagon with someone like Gaethje excites him, which is something that he hasn’t always felt prior to competing in recent years.

“I feel like these kinds of opponents get me a bit emotional and I fight good when I just fight off my instincts and I get a bit emotional,” said Alvarez, who coached alongside his UFC 218 opponent on Season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter. “I’ve been in the sport 15 years – it’s hard to get emotional about a fight or have any kind of feelings about a fight because I’ve been doing it so long, but when I get someone in front of me that invokes that ego in me and invokes some sort of emotion, it definitely helps.

“I’ve beaten the champions from every major organization there is,” he added. “From Strikeforce to UFC to Bellator to WEC – I’ve beaten every champion there is and this is a guy who was the king of his organization and I was never able to get my hands on him; we were never able to get a fight together. It’s one guy, a champion from another organization and I’ve been doing this my whole career – I’ve made a career out of beating champions and he’s just another guy to put on my list.”

In many ways, this fight is an opportunity for Alvarez to turn back the clock a little – to tap into the primal instincts and urges that made him one of the top lightweights in the world long before he matriculated to the UFC, and to bring back the kind of gutsy performance that earned him the title “The Underground King” in the first place.

“I just saw an old UFC poster and the side of the poster said, ‘The bloodiest, most barbaric event on Earth,’” began Alvarez. “At some point, we lost that. Being violent has always been important to me – it draws people in, it makes people want to watch, it gets people excited – so that’s what I’ve always looked to do and that’s the most important thing to work on.

“I seek growth more than I seek anything and I feel like it’s fights like these that bring that out more than anything because they go beyond who is more skilled and who has better wrestling, jiu-jitsu and all the tactical parts. At some point, it almost becomes a spiritual battle and I think people connect with that – they get emotional about it. I’m excited to be involved in it and I hope the fans are as well.”

It has been 17 months since Alvarez last tasted victory – his championship win over Rafael Dos Anjos – and more than a year since he lost the lightweight title to Conor McGregor at UFC 205. Every second of his return to the cage against Dustin Poirier in May was electric, but the nine-minute affair ended in controversial fashion and left everyone – including the two combatants – wanting more.

After putting in his time in the desert leading the members of Team Alvarez on TUF, the 34-year-old veteran returned home to start preparing for his clash with Gaethje and a return to the style that made him one of the most exciting fighters in the sport and a major free agent signing for the UFC just a handful of years ago.

It’s not that he’s performed poorly in the Octagon – after all, he did beat a pair of former champions en route to claiming the lightweight title – it’s just that he hasn’t been the relentless, savage Eddie Alvarez he was in the past. But that all changes this weekend and Saturday can’t come soon enough.

“It’s everything,” he said regarding the importance of this fight. “I kind of want to get out nice and hot – come out in the first round and get into this fight.

“I’m excited just to be in it, so I’m going to enjoy the process and the results will speak for themselves. My work for the last three, four months has been incredible and the results will speak for themselves – I just want to get into this fight. I want Saturday to be here already.

So does everyone else.

“I definitely used to let that play into my head in the beginning of my career – ‘I’ve got to be Anthony,’ but it’s hard to be that guy, man,” he said with a laugh. “He’s got swag, he’s creative and I’m more of a technician out there. I keep to my game plan, no emotions and just focus on the goal – go out there and flow – and I’m getting better and better at it. I had to grow into myself.”

Since losing to Benoit in Dallas at UFC 185, Pettis has rattled off four straight victories to propel himself into title contention in the flyweight division and set up a highly anticipated contest with former title challenger Henry Cejudo this weekend at UFC 218 in Detroit.

During his current run of success, Pettis has showcased a style all his own, eschewing the flashy offensive techniques that lace his brother’s highlight reel in favor of smooth, technical striking and a patient, tactical approach that plays to his strengths and belies his age.

It has taken time, but Sergio Pettis has become his own man, both personally and professionally.

“I had to find a way that was suitable for me and that made sense for who I am, not being Anthony Pettis’ little brother,” he said. “I love being Anthony Pettis’ little brother – the guy’s amazing and I have no shame about that – but at first, I used to kind of frown upon it and feel like I had to live up to everybody’s expectations. Now I’m just living up to my own expectations and I feel strong on where my path is taking me.

“When I was younger, I was very insecure about myself, honestly,” added the 24-year-old contender. “I would view myself in a non-confident way. Now I’ve worked on that and I don’t care so much about the external road. Internally, I feel stronger and I think that’s why I’m performing to my capabilities. I’m going out there with no stress, no tightness. I’m going out there and being water; I’m just flowing.”

The shifts that Pettis has made and his growth as a fighter has been on full display this year, as he started his 2017 campaign off with a unanimous decision win over John Moraga before rebounding from some rough patches to collect a similar verdict against Brandon Moreno in his first UFC main event back in August.

The opportunity to face Moreno only fell into his lap after a previously scheduled clash with Cejudo was scuttled when the Olympic gold medalist was forced to withdraw at the 11th hour with a hand injury. Though he was frustrated at the time, Pettis now sees the delay as a major positive and believes it has put him in an even better position as he readies to face Cejudo Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.

“The John Moraga fight taught me how I can take a pretty decent punch – take a good hit and return one back – but against Moreno, I faced adversity and I think that really helped me grow a lot,” said Pettis, who spent the entire first round of the five-round affair fending off choke attempts after getting taken down in the opening moments of the first. “I came out very slow, threw a sloppy kick and he took advantage of that and that’s something I had to be aware of for this fight with Cejudo, to make sure I’m going out there and throwing to my full potential and not second guessing.

“Obviously at the time I was pissed off, but there is no resentment towards him,” Pettis said in regards to his cancelled bout with Cejudo at UFC 211 in May. “I have nothing against my opponents. I understand stuff happens in the fight game and it was a blessing in disguise. It was supposed to happen – I got the main event against Brandon Moreno and I got more time and experience to be ready to fight a man like Henry. It gave me more time to improve and gain more confidence and now December 2nd, we get to go out there and handle business.”

After arriving on the big stage at a young age, saddled with expectations and stumbling out of the gate, Pettis has found his footing, become his own man and emerged as a legitimate championship contender in the flyweight ranks.

It has been a circuitous journey to this point, but one that has proven well worth it for the 24-year-old Milwaukee native, who believes he’s now reached a point where he’s ready to prove he’s one of the best fighters in the sport.

“I’ve got my game to where I’m a complete mixed martial artist; not to my full potential, but to making it so I’m not just a striker, not just a grappler,” said Pettis. “I’m everything and I’m ready wherever this fight goes. I have a goal to finish this fight – I’ve been to a lot of decisions and my goal is to put on a great performance for Detroit and try to get this finish; I believe I have what it takes.

“At a younger age, I was more excited to just be in the UFC and than wanting to have the responsibilities of becoming one of the greatest fighters in the UFC,” he added. “But I know I have the skill set to become a champion and to become one of the best in the UFC and now I have the mindset too. I think everything is matching up and it’s perfect timing because I’m ready for the responsibilities.”

This week will feature a fight between No. 1 seed Roxanne Modafferi and No. 12 seed Sijara Eubanks to determine who will move on to the live finale in Las Vegas on Dec. 1 to face Nicco Montano, who punched her ticket last week with an impressive win against former Invicta FC champion Barb Honchak.

Modafferi making it this far in the competition shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Training alongside the coaches and fighters at Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas, Modafferi has adapted her grappling-heavy style with an infusion of striking skills that she never had before. Now Modafferi is dangerous on the feet and on the ground, and she’s shown that off during her first two performances on the show with a pair of TKO victories against Shana Dobson and Emily Whitmire.

Competing on this season of The Ultimate Fighter was more than just a chance to become a champion for Modafferi, as she’s also approached this opportunity with a glimmer of redemption in her eyes. Modafferi has talked at length about her experience as part of The Ultimate Fighter season 18 cast, where she came up short during the show and then lost in her lone fight inside the Octagon.

She came back with a renewed sense of purpose and dedication to not only prove that she belonged in the UFC, but Modafferi wants to become the first ever women’s flyweight champion to show that she’s truly one of the best in the world.

Considering her experience on the show, as well as a wealth of fights in organizations all around the world, Modafferi will certainly be the odds on favorite to earn a spot in the finale this week, but if this season has taught us anything, it’s that you can almost expect the unexpected.

That was already proven with Nicco Montano’s run through the tournament, and now Sijara Eubanks will look to follow with her own victory this week as she faces Modafferi with a chance to then fight for the women’s flyweight title.

Eubanks didn’t have a ton of professional experience coming into the show, although she had faced some tough competition, including fights against current UFC competitors Aspen Ladd and Katlyn Chookagian. While Eubanks was ranked No. 12 when the tournament started, she’s taken that as an insult and used it as motivation with every fight she’s had and every victory she’s tacked on to her resume.

In fact, Eubanks shouted at UFC President Dana White following her first round victory against Maia Stevenson that she was none too pleased with her ranking in the tournament. Eubanks then pulled off arguably the best finish of the entire season with a stunning head kick knockout to finish multi-time Invicta FC veteran DeAnna Bennett in the quarterfinals.

Of course, Eubanks’ road to the semifinals hasn’t been easy, especially when considering the difficulty she’s faced with her weight cuts to get down to 125 pounds.

Previously fighting at bantamweight, Eubanks is now making her move to flyweight, where she’s forced to maintain a much lower weight during the season and then shed those last few pounds before each fight. The first time around for her bout against Stevenson, Eubanks was over the limit and she decided to cut off her hair to ensure that she was able to step on to the scale under the 126-pound allowance.

For her second fight against Bennett, Eubanks actually came in over the limit the first time and the Nevada State Athletic Commission allowed her an extra hour to cut the additional weight or the UFC would likely have to call in a replacement. Eubanks refused to give up as she crawled back into the sauna to sweat off those last few ounces before stepping back on the scale and hitting the mark exactly where she needed to be.

Considering this is the third time Eubanks is cutting weight, she could have things down to a science or her body might be ready to shut down if she’s attempting one more drop to 126 pounds. Eubanks has been struggling all season long and a third tough weight cut could make a dramatic moment for the weigh-ins this week ahead of the last semifinal fight.

It’s also worth considering that even if Eubanks makes the weight, will she be drained by the time the second or third rounds get underway if she can’t put Modafferi away early?

Those will all be interesting factors to watch as the episode unfolds, all leading to the matchup between Modafferi and Eubanks.

On paper, these two fighters are very evenly matched, although Modafferi definitely maintains a huge experience edge over Eubanks. At the same time, Eubanks is a huge fighter for the flyweight division and while she will be giving up a little bit of height and reach, she will pack a serious punch and Modafferi would be well advised to avoid any big exchanges with her on the feet.

On the ground, Modafferi is a wizard, but Eubanks is no slouch.

Eubanks put away her first opponent with a second-round submission and she considers herself an elite grappler. Plus, Eubanks will undoubtedly have a strength advantage against Modafferi and that could bode well for her finishing a submission or possibly defending one from the top seed in the tournament.

Who will ultimately join Montano in the championship fight on Friday night? Will Modafferi continue her run for redemption or can Eubanks prove that rankings are nothing but numbers? Find out during the season finale of The Ultimate Fighter tonight at 10 pm ET on FS1.