Cynthia Calvillo is finally being allowed to bang again, bro. She will be returning from her USADA suspension for marijuana to be facing off against Poliana Botelho on November 17th in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Cavillo announced the news herself via Instagram.
Poliana Botelho began her professional MMA career in 2013, and she went on to win the following chapionships: Favela Fight, a Muay Thai Titan Cup, and was an Open Rio champion in 2015 among other championships won. Botelho is a black belt in Muay Thai and she is putting quite the mileage on that accolade, as all but one of her seven victories have come by TKO, including her most recent win over Syuri Kondo in May. Botelho also holds a unanimous decision victory over Pearl Gonzalez in what was Botelho’s strawweight debut and is currently 2-0 in the UFC. Botelho will have a very stiff third test in the Octagon when she takes on Cynthia Calvillo in Argentina.
Cynthia Calvillo began fighting as an amateur in 2012 with a 5-1 record prior to going pro in 2016. Calvillo told family that if she did not make it to the UFC by the age of 30, she would retire and set her sights on another career. As luck would have it, less than three months before her 30th birthday, Calvillo got the call to fight Amanda Cooper on short notice, an opportunity she cashed in on with rear naked choke victory in the very first round. Cynthia Calvillo would proceed to win her next two fights in the promotion over Pearl Gonzalez and Joanne Calderwood prior to dropping a close, yet unanimous decision to Carla Esparza at UFC 219. Despite this setback, in an interview with Karyn Bryant earlier this year, Calvillo spoke about her big plans for herself in the division and even elsewhere:
“I feel like I’m going to stay in the strawweight division,” Calvillo said. “I definitely want to fight everybody, and I want to get that belt. And I want to move up and be a two-time division champ. I want to break records, and I want to build my legacy.”
Handing Poliana Botelho her first defeat while improving her own UFC record to 4-1 would be a great way to continue that process.
What is your prediction for this bout? Does Cynthia Calvillo take it or does Poliana Botelho remain undefeated?
