Jessica Aguilar announces release from WSOF, in search of contract with UFC

One week after former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 115-pound women's champion Carla Esparza accused World Series of Fighting (WSOF) strawweight champion, Jessica Aguilar, of dabbling in performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), "Jag" dropped a bombshell of her own.

Aguilar revealed during her appearance on The MMA Hour that she is no longer under contract with WSOF and is free to sign with any mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion. Of course, Aguilar only has one in mind, stating that the main reason in asking for her release was that so she could sign with UFC to solidify her No. 1 ranking.

Her words:

"Well, I'm excited to be here as a free agent today, and I am looking forward to challenging myself against the best and proving why I'm the No. 1 ranked fighter in the world in my weight class. I haven't fought in a few months, and so my next step is to be the UFC champion. I've decided to become the next UFC champion and that's a part of consolidating my No. 1 ranking. UFC wasn't allowed to talk to me while I was under contract with WSOF, So, I've solved that issue for them. I am now a free agent. I have not signed (with UFC yet)...I just want to prove why I am the No. 1 ranked fighter. I want to have fun and now the ball is in Dana's court. WSOF was amazing, I told them what I wanted and they granted me my release to do whatever I want. My goal is to be the No. 1 in my weight class, and that's in the UFC. I want to challenge myself against those ladies, I am excited and ready to have fun an defend what's mine."

Someone get Dana White on the phone ... pronto!

WSOF President Ray Sefo issued the following statement once news broke:

"We wish Jessica all the best, and hope that she will achieve everything she wants to in her career that is blossoming. We sat down with Jessica and her manager and we all agreed that she needs to move on to a place where she can compete against the best 115 pound women in the world. We have an incredible and fast-growing roster of world-class athletes at WSOF, but we do not have the best fighters in this particular women's weight class, so it was time to shake hands and amicably part ways."

As far as the PED allegations, Aguilar denied ever using anything and also says there is no correlation with her granting a release from WSOF to get her hands on Esparza.

"No that wasn't the reason, ain't nobody got time for that. She can say whatever she wants. My record speaks for itself. As far as the better fighter, hopefully she gets the chance to put her money where her mouth is soon. My record speaks for itself; and when I mean record, I mean my athletic commission record. There is nothing but clean results. So my message to Carla is, 'be real.' Sorry you keep losing to better fighters. How about congratulating somebody? Doing something good? Saying something good about them versus making excuses and making up stories about others. That's just crazy. But, hopefully soon, she'll have the chance to put her money where her mouth is. So, that's where I'm at. I mean, how many excuses can you have? Carla, she is probably taking so many hits to the head. That's the only logical explanation to here head, I don't know. I know I get hit in the head a lot, but I don't act like that."

Aguilar last competed at WSOF 15 in Nov. 2014, defeating Kalinda Faria via unanimous decision to mark her second straight title defense. The win was her tenth straight, proving why she is indeed considered the best fighter in the division.

But, now that she is officially a free agent looking for work, she can put a stamp on her ranking by taking on and defeating the best UFC has to offer.

As it stands, Joanna Jędrzejczyk is the UFC's 115-pound queen with a title defense scheduled against Jessica Penne for UFC Fight Night 69 on June 20, 2015, in Berlin, Germany. So if UFC and Aguilar come to terms on a deal, perhaps another grudge match against Esparza could be in order.

Something "Jag" is not opposed to.