UFC president Dana White was impressed with [autotag]Cynthia Calvillo[/autotag]’s performance Saturday.
At UFC on ESPN 10, Calvillo (9-1-1 MMA, 6-1-1 UFC) defeated former women’s flyweight title challenger Jessica Eye in a five-round unanimous decision. Afterward, White said during the post-event news conference that he was pleased with the Calvillo’s performance in her divisional debut.
“She looked great tonight,” White said. “She fought the perfect fight. I think that (her) standup looked good (and) her ground game looked good. Going into the fifth round, she stood, didn’t sit on the stool, had a strong fifth round. She looked good. (It was) her first five-round fight. Yeah, she looked good.”
Heading into the fight, Eye (15-8 MMA, 5-7 UFC) sat at No. 1 in the official UFC women’s 125-pound rankings. Coming into a division and beating the No. 1 contender? White said that’s a recipe for throwing yourself into the title mix immediately.
“Listen, yeah, if you beat the No. 1 contender,” White said when asked. “Look at Gilbert Burns. It just happened to him. When you beat No. 1? Yeah.”
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At UFC on ESPN 9 last month, Burns defeated then-No.1 contender and former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in a dominant unanimous decision victory. The win skyrocketed him up the UFC rankings – and in turn earned him the next 170-pound title shot against Kamaru Usman.
Calvillo, 32, has not lost in four straight appearances. Following back-to-back victories over Poliana Botelho and Cortney Casey at strawweight, Calvillo drew with Marina Rodriguez at UFC on ESPN 7 in December.
UFC on ESPN 10 took place Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.
Check out the full UFC on ESPN 10 post-fight news conference with Dana White in the video above.
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