Cynthia Calvillo gets a hometown fight against former Invicta FC champion Livia Renata Souza at UFC Sacramento.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto first reported the addition to UFC Sacramento.
Cynthia Calvillo was born in San Jose, California, and now lives and trains in Sacramento with Team Alpha Male. So no travel will be necessary for the strawweight, which is quite the opposite for Livia Renata Souza, who lives in Brazil.
Cynthia Calvillo made a splash in the UFC quickly, submitting opponents on back-to-back pay-per-view main cards in her first two fights in the promotion. She then capitalized when given a step-up in competition, defeating current flyweight contender Joanne Calderwood. Calvillo’s rise took a hit when she suffered the first loss in her career against Carla Esparza, then was suspended for marijuana usage. Since returning, she’s rebounded with wins over Poliana Botelho and Cortney Casey.
Livia Renata Souza is currently recovering from an ankle injury that pulled her from an April matchup with Esparza. The Brazilian had a great start to her career, going 11-1 (4-1 in Invicta FC) before signing with the UFC. Her first fight in Invicta was a title fight, which she won by triangle choke before defending her belt with a first-round TKO. She lost her belt to Angela Hill in her next fight, but followed up with a pair of wins prior to her Octagon debut. Souza made her promotional debut in a big way with a first-round guillotine, then won a split decision in her last fight in February.
UFC Sacramento takes place on July 13 from the Golden 1 Center in California, the home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. No main event has been announced/reported yet, but there are three other fights on the card thus far, and they are as follows:
- Beneil Dariush vs. Drakkar Klose
- Cezar Ferreira vs. Marvin Vettori
- Karl Roberson vs. John Phillips
