San Diego, CA — California’s own Cynthia Calvillo returns to action at UFC San Diego, after her initial date with Nina Nunes was pushed back a month.
Despite Nunes pulling out of the July fight, things have worked out for the former flyweight. Especially once Calvillo (9-4-1) realized that she’d be fighting in her home state, she told media outlets including Cageside Press during Wednesday’s UFC San Diego media day.
“I’m really stoked about that, because I get to be closer to all of my Latino people,” Calvillo stated. “So that’s going to give me a lot of motivation, to hear all the noise and all the energy.”
Like Calvillo herself, Nunes has fought some of the best fighters out there, mainly at strawweight, with both girls being former 115lb’ers.
“She’s a very tough opponent. She’s been fighting the top 10 just how I have,” Calvillo noted. “People do look at that, the losses and stuff like that, but we’ve been fighting the best. I think I got into the UFC at 3-0. Really, I was six months as a professional. Within being a professional for a year, I was ranked #6 in the world. So I’ve been fighting the best.”
With her lack of experience upon entering the UFC, Calvillo has had to develop under the spotlight. Things haven’t always gone her way; she’s currently mired in a three-fight skid.
“Everybody’s seen my professional career unravel on the biggest stage in the world. So it makes it kind of difficult, but I think this is important for me,” Calvillo acknowledged. “I think it’s going to bring out the best in me. We all show that, all Mexican fighters, we always rise to the occasion. No matter how many times we fall, we’re always going to come back strong.”
Despite the fight with Nina Nunes coming at flyweight, Calvillo does intend to head back down to 115 pounds moving forward. “My plans are still to eventually go down to strawweight. I did get a little bit bigger to be at flyweight, but we’re gonna work down to get down at 115,” she stated.
In fact, that drop would have come sooner. Calvillo was originally booked opposite Briana Van Buren for a strawweight fight earlier this year. “She pulled out, and we spent a couple of weeks looking for an opponent, and Nina’s name came up, and I was like ‘yeah I’m down to fight Nina,'” she told Cageside Press. Nunes, however, wanted to fight at flyweight. “I was like ‘you know what, this is an exception, we’re still going to move down to 115.’ But with it being Nina who was previously at 115, I was like ‘I’ll do this, I’ll fight with her at 125.'”
Watch the full UFC San Diego media day scrum with Cynthia Calvillo above. The event takes place this Saturday, August 13, 2022 at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California.
