The UFC Lincoln card next month continues to grow, this time with the addition of a flyweight battle between Kalindra Faria and Joanne Calderwood.
JoJo is making her way back to the octagon. Former strawweight Joanne Calderwood, who has not competed since July 2017 at UFC Glasgow, is set to appear opposite Kalindra Faria at UFC Lincoln in August. ESPN was among the first to report the booking. Calderwood, a member of The Ultimate Fighter 20, which crowned the inaugural strawweight champ in the UFC, notably took part in the first women’s flyweight fight in the promotion. That came against Valerie Letourneau at UFC Ottawa in 2016.
Calderwood (11–3) has struggled in the octagon since that win over Letourneau, who later signed with Bellator MMA. JoJo has lost two straight in the strawweight division, to Jessica Andrade and Cynthia Calvillo. She also missed weight for the bout against Calvillo. Moving up to flyweight makes all the sense in the world with that in mind.
The Scottish Muay Thai champion teased a fight announcement in recent weeks, and has been training with ‘The Happy Warrior’ Roxanne Modafferi of late. Modafferi fights Friday at The Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale.
Faria (18-7-1), a former Titan FC women’s bantamweight champ, is 0-2 in her UFC career thus far. She’s dropped fights to Jessica Eye and Mara Romero Borella. The Taubate, Sao Paulo native previously challenged for the WSOF strawweight title against Jessica Aguilar.
UFC Lincoln (UFC Fight Night 135) takes place August 25 at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.
