The UFC is back in action this Saturday night, with UFC on ESPN 10. Topped by a women’s flyweight bout between Jessica Eye and Cynthia Calvillo, it’s an event that hit a number of speed bumps at Friday’s official weigh-in.
Eye, for one, missed weight, albeit by a hair. The number one contender at 125lbs, she came in at 126.25, and looked wobbly getting off the scale. Still, she’ll be welcoming Cynthia Calvillo to the weight class. Calvillo has had her own weight struggles at strawweight, and is looking for a fresh start in a new division. A win over the top ranked contender could shoot her right into the top five.
A grudge match between Marvin Vettori and Karl Roberson, meanwhile, was scheduled as the penultimate fight of the evening. Roberson had missed weight for the duo’s original date at UFC Jacksonville a month ago. He was then pulled from the card for health reasons. One month later, and Roberson again missed weight, this time by a whopping 4.5lbs. But Vettori, who has been trying to fight since March, wasn’t about to turn down a shot at revenge — and so the fight is a go.
| Staff Writers | Cifers vs. Agapova | Espinosa vs. De La Rosa | Fili vs. Jourdain | Rosa vs. Aguilar | Roberson vs. Vettori | Eye vs. Calvillo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Fortune (52-18) |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Keith Shillan (49-21) | | | | | | |
| Michael Lynch (17-8) |  |  |  | | |  |
| Joe McDonagh (44-26) | | | |  | | |
| Eddie Law (24-19) | | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (41-29) | | | | | | |
| Mike McClory (21-15) | | | | | | |
| Paarth Pande (25-18) | | | | | | |
| Ryan Jarrell (8-6) | | | | | | |
| Josh Evanoff (38-32) | | | | | | |
| Gabriel Gonzalez (38-32) | | | | | | |
| Dan Doherty (35-30) | | | | | | |
| Dylan Bowker (30-26) | | | | | | |
| Justin Gibbons (18-16) | | | | | | |
Weighing in, no pun intended, on the main card, our staff had only one unanimous selection this week. That was in the co-main event, with every single writer responding siding with Vettori. A highly motivated Vettori, and Roberson missing weight twice no doubt played a part that unanimous decision.
The main event was a tougher one to call. Of the writers responding this week, nine sided with divisional newcomer Cynthia Calvillo. Another five feel that Jessica Eye will play spoiler for Calvillo’s flyweight coming out party in the UFC. The big question mark will likely be how Eye recovers from a clearly draining weight cut.
After a shuffling of the deck, Saturday’s main card will be opened by Hannah Cifers vs. Mariya Agapova. This flyweight bout sees Cifers entering the octagon just weeks after her fight against Mackenzie Dern. While she tapped out in that contest (kneebar), she’ll have a chance to get back on the horse against the debuting Agapova. For her part, Agapova has won her last two fights, both under the Invicta FC banner. Nine of our writers see the newcomer coming out on top, while five sided with “Shockwave” Cifers.
A similar split occurred with Mark De La Rosa vs. Jordan Espinosa at bantamweight. Both men are in dire need of a win; Espinosa admitted during media day that he was surprised the UFC didn’t cut him after his last loss. He’s 0-2 in his past two, De La Rosa is 0-3 in his last three trips to the octagon. It was a nine to five split here in favor of De La Rosa.
Despite a performance bonus-worthy showing against Doo-Ho Choi, Canada’s Charles Jourdain wasn’t getting much respect for his featherweight fight against Andre Fili. Once again, it was a nine to five split. Five writers sided with “Air” Jourdain, while the other nine picked Fili.
An eight to six split occurred in the Charles Rosa vs. Kevin Aguilar fight, in favor of Aguilar.
