Cynthia Calvillo has no excuses about weight miss; open to flyweight move after UFC DC

WASHINGTON – Cynthia Calvillo will walk away from UFC on ESPN 7 with less money than she anticipated – for two reasons.

In Saturday’s co-main event, Calvillo (8-1-1 MMA, 5-1-1 UFC) fought to a majority draw against Marina Rodriguez (13-0-2 MMA, 2-0-2 UFC), so a win bonus won’t be coming her way.

Additionally, Calvillo was forced to hand over a solid chunk of change when she was fined 30 percent for missing weight by 4.5 pounds on Friday morning. The miss wasn’t her first, either. Prior to her fight against Poliana Botelho in November 2018, Calvillo also missed the strawweight mark.

Post-fight, Calvillo told reporters backstage at Capital One Arena she’s open to moving up in weight – if her body doesn’t allow her to hit the 115-pound mark.

“I don’t want to make excuses,” Calvillo told MMA Junkie. “It’s unfortunate that it happened. It was something we were trying to prepare for again. But once again, I had to deal with my body shutting down. I don’t want to make any excuses. I just want to go back to the drawing board and we’re going to work on that. Whether it means me moving up a weight class and that’s what I’m going to have to do.”

“I would hate to look like I’m unprofessional,” she continued. “I work so goddang hard. If you guys knew me and spent a week with me, you’d know I’m not here to (expletive) around. I definitely didn’t want to give a couple G’s. She went home with a nice paycheck with that draw and my missed weight. It is what it is. I apologize to my opponent and stuff like that. We’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen again. If that means moving up, that means moving up.”

As for the draw itself, Calvillo didn’t state whether or not she thought she won the fight. Seemingly focused more on her mistakes, Calvillo said she could have done better in certain areas, notably, the clinch.

“You know – it was a tough fight,” Calvillo said. “I did a lot of mistakes in there. Definitely defending in the clinch. She had a really good clinch. But I feel like I got her down in the first round. Second round she was pretty strong.

“But the third round, man, I was goddang this close to finishing her. I let it slip through my fingers. She got up for the last few seconds and it ended up being a draw in the judges’ eyes.”

Having done some of her camp overseas in preparation for UFC DC, Calvillo’s fine stings a little extra. The 32-year-old Californian hopes to be rebooked quickly.

“We’ve got to pay some bills,” Calvillo said. “Hopefully I get a fight really soon – early next year. Dana (White), Mick Maynard. Please. I’ll take a fight January, February, whatever, you know? I got some bills to pay because those four pounds were very expensive.”