There’s a new contender in the UFC women’s flyweight division and her name is Cynthia Calvillo.
The former strawweight improved to 9-1-1 in her professional mixed martial arts career after earning a five-round unanimous decision victory over Jessica Eye in the featured bout at a UFC Fight Night event at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas over the weekend.
Calvillo out-landed Eye 150-70 in total strikes but it was her four takedowns and dominant ground control that was the main difference in the fight. Two judges scored the bout 49-46 while the third saw it 48-47 all in favour of Calvillo.
Eye was the No. 1-ranked contender at 125 pounds heading into the bout, which means Calvillo has automatically established herself as someone close to a title shot at 125 pounds.
Calvillo, whose lone career loss was a decision to former strawweight champion Carla Esparza 2 1/2 years ago, also holds victories over No. 11-ranked flyweight Montana De La Rosa as well as No. 3-ranked Joanne Calderwood.
The 32-year-old San Jose native has competed just four times since 2017 and said she wants to be busier this year and going forward. No. 2-ranked contender Katlyn Chookagian seemingly showed interest in taking on Calvillo next.
“Whoever, whatever,” Calvillo said after the fight. “My last two years have been really slow. I haven’t been able to fight as much as I wanted to, so I’m down to fight everybody. Just keep me busy.
Calderwood is expected to be the next challenger for undisputed champ Valentina Shevchenko, but realistically Calvillo could merely be one or two impressive wins away from fighting for a title herself in a division starved for fresh contenders.
Here are the full results from UFC Fight Night: Eye vs. Calvillo.
MAIN CARD
— Cynthia Calvillo def. Jessica Eye by unanimous decision
— Marvin Vettori def. Karl Roberson by submission (rear-naked choke)
— Charles Rosa def. Kevin Aguilar by split decision
— Andre Fili def. Charles Jourdain by split decision
— Jordan Espinosa def. Mark De La Rosa by unanimous decision
— Mariya Agapova def. Hannah Cifers by submission (rear-naked choke)
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Merab Dvalishvili def. Gustavo Lopez by unanimous decision
— Julia Avila def. Gina Mazany by technical knockout
— Tyson Nam def. Zarrukh Adashev by knockout
— Christian Aguilera def. Anthony Ivy by technical knockout
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