Aisling Daly: Training in ‘The Ultimate Fighter 20’ House ‘Wasn’t That Great’

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Aisling Daly may have missed weight for her showdown with Alex Chambers at "The Ultimate Fighter 20" finale, but the Irish strawweight earned a measure of redemption by submitting her foe with an armbar 4:53 into the opening frame on Friday night.

According to the SBG Ireland representative, the myriad responsibilities that come with “TUF” took their toll on the weight-cutting process. That, coupled with a less than ideal training environment on the reality show, led to her missing weight by two pounds. As a result, Daly was fined 20 percent of her purse.

“The reason I didn’t make weight, to be honest, was I had no training when we did all the media for ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’” Daly said. “And if we’re being really honest, the training in the house wasn’t that great -- so I was off for like months and months.”

Despite less-than-ideal circumstances, Daly was able to impose her will against Chambers. She threatened with an armbar early and achieved full mount twice before securing the finish. It still wasn’t necessarily the victory Daly envisioned.

“Up until yesterday I had a different plan to defeat Alex, but things changed and I felt terrible, so you go back to what you know and what I know is jiu-jitsu,” she said.

A member of Team Pettis on the reality show, Daly stopped Angela Magana in the preliminary round of “TUF 20” before dropping a unanimous decision to Jessica Penne in the quarterfinals. With that experience behind her, Daly is confident that she can make a more significant impact in the 115-pound division going forward.

“Now that I’m back in Ireland and training with my camp at SBG, I know the belt will be mine,” Daly said. “ Put Conor [McGregor] as the main event in Dublin, me as the co-main event and bill it as the King and Queen of Irish MMA.”