Tonya Evinger is an Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight whose 2017 Octagon debut took place 10 pounds up against the legendary Cristiane “Cyborg” Justino. Losing to her opponent by TKO in the third round kicked off a disappointing start to Evinger’s UFC career.
After a devastating leg injury that saw “Triple Threat’s” UFC journey halted for a year, Evinger returned in October 2018 at UFC 229 to face rising prospect Aspen Ladd. Ladd defeated the Houston wrestler with a ground-and-pound onslaught in round one.
The 37-year-old is a former Invicta Fighting Championship bantamweight champion who defended her title multiple times before departing the female-only league for the big show. But being on a two-fight losing streak in the UFC has left Evinger facing questions about her future with the Las Vegas-based promotion.
Evinger (19-8) told John Hyon Ko of Kumite TV that she still has a few fights left on her UFC contract and will continue fighting so long as she is permitted. “Well, with this contract with UFC I got three more fights including this one on it. I’m gonna be honest, I’m gonna fight until they stop paying me. So, win, lose, draw, I don’t give a s—, I’m gonna go out there and fight every fight. And I’m gonna fight until they decide they don’t wanna pay me no more. And then I’m gonna find somebody else that wants to pay me a little less, and I’m gonna do that ’til they quit paying me.”
While she’s not in training camp, the lifelong athlete works full-time on an oil rig and worries what her life will look like when the fighting is done. “I feel like I’ve done this my whole life, and I don’t know, it’s weird, it’s like I’m an athlete so what do I do when I’m done? And that’s why I got another job … I don’t know if I’ll ever really get beat-up beat up, but if I like, start getting my ass whooped in this sport, what the hell am I gonna do? You know, I’ve just been an athlete my whole life, so it’s a weird thing to think about.”
Evinger faces Lina Lansberg at UFC Stockholm this Saturday in the preliminary card which airs live at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN2.