Exclusive: UFC 219’s Cynthia Calvillo Says Her 115lb Title Bid Now Difficult With Rose Namajunas Being Champ
Cynthia Calvillo is looking to complete her first full year as a professional fighter, and with a win at UFC 219 could put her name into title contention.
Calvillo, who hadn't even competed for a full year as a pro when she'd beaten perennial top-10 fighter Joanne Calderwood in July, but now looks to add former champion Carla Esparza to her collection of victories. Calvillo told Fightful.com's James Lynch that Esparza felt disrespected that Calvillo wanted to fight her, and thinks that will carry over to the cage on December 30.
"She's gonna underestimate the power of my punches and shoot. Which I'm fine with. My bread and butter is the ground. I'm either going to finish her from the bottom with ground and pound, or knock her out," said Calvillo.
The 30-year old fighter sits at #6 in UFC's media rankings, #10 in Fightful's rankings, and #13 in the statistical-based Fight Matrix rankings. With four-fight winning streaks a rarity at women's strawweight, Calvillo talked about a potential title shot as well.
"Unfortunately for Carla Esparza, they moved her down to number 9. I'm hoping to crack the top five, get one of the top five fighters and I should get my shot, I think. Who knows? With Rose being the new champ, it's new matchups. If Rose hadn't won, I feel like it would have been a clear shot for me, because everyone in the top 5 had already fought Joanna (Jedrzejczyk). Now it's a little bit of a mix up," said Calvillo. "I'm hoping for summertime."
In the full interview, Cynthia Calvillo (6-0) discusses her upcoming fight against Carla Esparza (12-4) at UFC 219 on Dec. 30. Cynthia also talks about training with Jamie Moyle at Team Alpha Male for this fight, how far off she is from a UFC title shot and her favorite Xmas movies.
