Can Cynthia Calvillo regain her momentum?
For a minute, there, it appeared [autotag]Cynthia Calvillo[/autotag] was on the fast track to become the strawweight division’s next big thing.
The Sacramento resident got off to a fast start, winning her fight three UFC fights in four months, two of them by submission.
Then came a harsh lesson in how fast things can go sideways in this sport. A loss to former strawweight champion Carla Esparza was her first career defeat. That was followed by a ridiculous suspension for marijuana metabolites, as sanctioning bodies continued to enforce the dumbest parts of the 20th-century War on Drugs in a 21st-century world.
Calvillo’s return has seen her go 2-0, but not without some bumps: She missed weight for a win over Poliana Botelho, and had to pull out of another fight due to a broken foot. Then Friday morning, she missed weight again – by quite a bit. She came in at 120.5 pounds on the scale, even farther north than the 118 pounds she was for the Botelho fight.
Now, Calvillo (8-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) returns for a fight with another up-and-comer with something to prove in Marina Rodriguez (12-0-1 MMA, 2-0-1 UFC), who is a substitute for Claudia Gadelha. With little fanfare, Rodriguez has gone unbeaten in three fights with established names, going to a draw with Randa Markos and decisioning Jessica Aguilar and Tecia Torres. An impressive performance here by Calvillo against a fighter who is on the verge of breaking out herself could put Calvillo back where she was when she got off to her red-hot UFC start – though another weight infraction might very well work against her in the eyes of the UFC’s brass.
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