Joanne Calderwood will not be fighting for a UFC title, at least for now.
The UFC women’s flyweight contender stepped in as a late replacement to take on Jennifer Maia at UFC on ESPN+ 31 on Aug. 1 in Las Vegas. Maia’s original opponent, Viviane Araujo, was forced to withdraw from the contest after testing positive for COVID-19 in the pre-fight screenings.
Late-notice switches happen often in MMA, but Calderwood’s (14-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) came as a surprise to many, as she was slated to challenge UFC champ Valentina Shevchenko. The title bout was supposed to go down at UFC 251 in June, but it was postponed after “The Bullet” suffered an injury.
“With this sport you’ve got to be ready for anything,” Calderwood wrote on Instagram. “I got word that Valentina pushed the date of her return back again and I made the decision to take a fight. God is good, the next day I got offered this one (against Maia), super excited because I was ready and I am still ready.
“We all take risks, and the risk (of) waiting until the end of the year or whenever the champ does decide to come back, is one I don’t want to take. ‘I’m a peacock, you gotta let me fly!’”
Calderwood is 3-1 in her last four UFC bouts. She’s coming off a split-decision win over Andrea Lee at UFC 242 in September. Meanwhile, Maia is looking to bounce back from a decision loss to Katlyn Chookagian. Prior to that, she was on a two-fight winning streak.
Joanne Calderwood explains why she's fighting Jennifer Maia, not UFC champ Valentina Shevchenko