Joanne Calderwood explains why she chose to fight Jennifer Maia.
Originally, the flyweight was tapped to challenge women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko for the belt at UFC 251; however, Shevchenko was forced to withdraw from the bout due to injury. Since then, there’s been no word on when the 32-year-old could make a return, which ultimately led to Calderwood accepting the short notice.
Calderwood explained that she just received word that her bout against Shevchenko has been pushed back once again due to the champion's on-going injury and the flyweight didn’t want to simply sit around and do nothing until then:
Calderwood is currently ranked number three within the flyweight division, with the 33-year-old coming off a split decision victory over Andrea Lee at UFC 242. Maia is currently ranked at No. 6, with her loss to Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 244 sending her down the rankings a bit. The two flyweights will meet on Saturday, August 1 at UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Shahbazyan.