Joanne Calderwood vs Sally McCarthy
Prior to her last bout, Joanne Calderwood (11-1) hadn’t looked right since hopping to the UFC for TUF 20. On the show she looked slow and lethargic in the cage. Once she fought in the UFC proper, she was struggling with smaller and less experienced opponents like Seo Hee Ham (an experienced kickboxer) and Courtney Casey (who has since looked great). She picked up her first loss by getting rocked and submitted by a woman who came in for her debut. This was all in the midst of a lot of drama in her personal life involving her head coach btw.
She turned it around against Valerie Letournau in her last fight, however. She looked sharped, powerful, and dangerous. Jojo ended up stopping Letournau in the 3rd. That fight came after her first full camp under Firas Zihabi at Tristar and at 125lbs.
We’ll see which condition played more of a part in her performance against Letournau this Saturday (Sept. 10) at UFC 203 as she returns to 115lbs to face off with Jessica Andrade (14-5).