[autotag]Jennifer Maia[/autotag] proved [autotag]Joanne Calderwood[/autotag]’s wasn’t wise to take a short-notice fight with her when she emerged victorious from the UFC on ESPN+ 31 co-main event.
Calderwood (14-5 MMA, 6-5 UFC) rolled the dice to compete instead of waiting for champ Valentina Shevchenko to recover from injury, which was an admirable move. It proved costly, though, because Maia (18-6-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC) picked up the first-round submission win in Saturday’s co-headliner, which took place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Check below for the top Twitter reactions to Maia’s victory over Calderwood at UFC on ESPN+ 31.
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https://twitter.com/MMAjunkie/status/1289749181284917248
#UFCFightNight Closing Betting Odds via @CircaSports
Jennifer Maia +167
Joanne Calderwood -192@UFC | #UFCVegas5 đź’°— Nick Kalikas (@FightOdds) August 2, 2020
Maia's striking looking sharp early on! #UFCVEGAS5 @ufc
— KEN SHAMROCK (@ShamrockKen) August 2, 2020
Maia looking pretty sharp in the boxing so far. #UFCVegas5
— Alan Jouban (@AlanJouban) August 2, 2020
Maia works for the arm bar and Calderwood taps! Great work by Maia. Tough break for Calderwood given she had a title shot lined up
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) August 2, 2020
See you soon Jennifer Maia 👊🏻
— Valentina Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) August 2, 2020
Wow. Holy shit.
— Tommy Toe Hold (@TommyToeHold) August 2, 2020
Oh look another armbar for the ladies. #UFCVegas5
— Michael Carroll (@MJCflipdascript) August 2, 2020
Women's flyweight division has a new contender once Valentina Shevchenko is back to defend her title. #UFCVegas5
— Robert Sargent (@MMARising) August 2, 2020
Damn… that's a big win for shorty #UFCVegas5
— Mike Jackson, Esq. (@TheTruthJackson) August 2, 2020
Unlucky @DRkneevil You’ll be back and as always I’ll be watching.
— michael (@bisping) August 2, 2020
Maia put on a clinic! Dominated that fight from start to finish đź‘Źđź‘Źđź‘Ź
— Lauren Murphy (@LaurenMurphyMMA) August 2, 2020
Damn nasty arm bar! #UFCVegas5
— Tatiana Suarez (@tatianaufc) August 2, 2020
Damn calderwood just lost her title shot taking a big risk there and losing. Gotta feel for her
— Brian Kelleher (@brianboom135) August 2, 2020
Amazing performance Maia #UFCApex5
— Katlyn Chookagian (@blondefighter) August 2, 2020
If Shahbazyan can pull this out we might have a young superstar in the making, but Brunson isn't a joke he throws everything with power! #UFCLasVegas5 @ufc @espn
— KEN SHAMROCK (@ShamrockKen) August 2, 2020
Maia looked sharp from the bell. #UFC251
— Alan Jouban (@AlanJouban) August 2, 2020
I don’t think that’s Demian Maia’s wife, but that BJJ was pretty a Demian Maia like submission. #DrunkTweets #ItsMyBirthdayBish #UFCVegas5
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) August 2, 2020
Excellent win for Jennifer Maia!! Former @InvictaFights champ one step closer to @ufc gold 💪🏼 #ufcvegas5
— Laura Sanko (@laura_sanko) August 2, 2020
Huge win for Maia tonight. You have to think she just took JoJo's spot for a chance at the title.. #UFCVegas5
— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) August 2, 2020
Joanne Calderwood is now one of nine fighters in UFC history to suffer two armbar submissions. The others: Kevin Jackson, Eugene Jackson, Matt Hughes, Ryan Jensen, Ryan Thomas, Jeremy Stephens, Tamdan McCrory, and Alex Chambers. #UFCVegas5
— Michael Carroll (@MJCflipdascript) August 2, 2020
#UFCVegas5 results: @JenniMaiaUFC def. Joanne Calderwood via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 4:29
Play-by-play: https://t.co/B7Q4QIgVYU pic.twitter.com/8qb9f82Z9G
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) August 2, 2020