Preview: UFC Fight Night 197 Prelims

Women’s Flyweights

#5 WFLW | Cynthia Calvillo (9-3-1, 6-3-1 UFC) vs. #12 WFLW | Andrea Lee (12-5, 4-3 UFC)

ODDS: Calvillo (-120), Lee (+100)

It has been a strange journey to this point for Calvillo. Her rise through the ranks was about as sudden as it gets. She made her professional debut in August 2016, and within months, she was signed by the UFC, making her promotional debut the following March. The UFC immediately made her a priority. After running through Amanda Bobby Brundage on the mat, Calvillo was quickly rebooked for another pay-per-view showcase, which gave way to a co-main event against Joanne Calderwood and then another PPV bout against Carla Esparza. Through the Calderwood bout, Calvillo held up her end of the bargain as a venomous grappler, but the Esparza fight was where she hit a clear wall, mostly getting outboxed over the course of three rounds. From there, Calvillo failed a marijuana test that kept her out of action for most of 2018, but she looked solid enough in a rebound win over Poliana Botelho before things suddenly went sideways. A February 2019 win over Cortney Casey saw Calvillo put in rounds on the feet, but by the time her next bout against Marina Rodriguez came around, it became clear that she viewed her striking as a primary part of her game plan. She clearly lost two rounds on the feet to a kickboxer before taking the fight to the mat and dominating enough to earn a draw. Weight issues forced Calvillo to move up to flyweight, and after a successful divisional debut against Jessica Eye, she has since once again been sunk by a misunderstanding of her strengths, striking with Katlyn Chookagian and Jessica Andrade for what turned out to be clear losses. Perhaps Calvillo will soon start pivoting back to being the electric grappler that made her so entertaining at the outset. She steps in on somewhat short notice in an attempt to rebound against Lee.

Lee was seemingly on the prospect radar forever before finally getting the UFC call once it opened the women’s flyweight division in 2018, and she has developed into a solid enough fighter. Mostly advertised as a kickboxer, Lee does pack some power but is not much of a knockout artist, owing to the fact that she is not particularly fast. Whether it is Lee or her opponent initiating things, “KGB” usually finds her way to the clinch or ends up wrestling with her opponent, and she is strong enough to get the upper hand or slick enough on the ground to force a submission. This is an odd fight, namely because it is between two women who are at their best grappling but do not necessarily choose to do so. As a result, this is likely to wind up as a tedious striking battle. Calvillo is the faster of the two, but if this fight is going to be relatively even, that favors Lee, if only because she figures to be the one hitting the harder shots and causing the most damage. Calvillo could likely take this if she goes back to a grappling-heavy gameplan, but the pick is Lee via decision.

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