Jessamyn Duke is looking to get the best of both worlds when it comes to MMA experience.
The 29-year-old Duke finds herself in the unique position of being signed to a UFC contract while still being allowed to compete for sister promotion Invicta Fighting Championships. She battles Irene Aldana in a women's bantamweight bout at Invicta FC 16 on Friday.
In four UFC fights, Duke struggled to a 1-3 record and she went directly to company president Dana White to work out a new arrangement.
"I finally went to Dana and I was like, 'I want to fight for Invicta. Let me go fight for them,'" Duke told Marc Raimondi of MMAFighting. "Let me get a fight. You know better than anyone - you were there watching the fight - that what I need more than anything is time in the ring.'"
After a quarterfinal finish on season 18 of "The Ultimate Fighter," Duke was thrown to the wolves with only three professional fights on her resume. She won a decision against Peggy Morgan, then went on to lose her next three.
Two of those losses came to world-title contenders Leslie Smith and Bethe Correia. The step up in competition combined with a scarcity of fights had Duke rethinking her strategy.
With White's blessing, Duke wants to establish herself in Invicta's 135-pound division, which she views as an extension of the UFC's.
"I want to fight and I don't really care what letters behind the promotion there are," Duke said. "I just want to fight. I want to get good wins and then who knows? The UFC may call me up and be like, 'Oh, we're ready' and want me back in there and that's fine. If not, I'm perfectly content in fighting the best here as well."
