Sherdog PreviewsWomen's Strawweights
Piera Rodriguez (9-1) vs. Cynthia Calvillo (9-6-1)Advertisement
It's a bit of a surprise that Cynthia Calvillo gets the chance to turn things around here, as she looks to break a five-fight losing streak that goes back to 2020. Calvillo made her UFC debut in 2017, at which point the UFC was firmly in the Cynthia Calvillo business; an electric submission artist, Calvillo was featured prominently from the jump, starting her UFC career with two pay-per-view main card fights and a Fight Night co-main event. But Calvillo's upward rise eventually hit a clear ceiling against Carla Esparza; faced with another standout on the mat, Calvillo mostly consented to an ineffective striking match and coasted to a decision loss. That figured to be a short-term bump in the road, but instead has mostly proven an omen for the rest of Calvillo's career; her need to develop a striking game was understandable, but she's mostly pivoted to a range game that's neither effective on its own or does much to tie into her wrestling and grappling. There are still some impressive flashes whenever Calvillo decides to just get after the best parts of her game, but she usually takes a while to get to that point - and in her last few fights, her opponents have usually been able to force her out of the fight before things get that far. If there's a saving grace for Calvillo, it's that her losing streak has come against a strong level of ranked competition, and to that point Piera Rodriguez is at least a step back, though not any sort of walkover. Venezuela's "La Fiera" is an undersized powerhouse intent on applying pressure and hitting her opponents hard, and she initially did well to shut down opponents that tried to out-wrestle her in the UFC; decision wins over Kay Hansen and Sam Hughes were fairly clear after fifteen minutes. But a loss last year to Gillian Robertson proved that Rodriguez's defenses aren't quite ironclad; Robertson proved to be strong enough to control Rodriguez on the mat and a potent enough grappler to score a second-round submission. On paper, there are a lot of things that could work here for Calvillo, even in a striking match; she's the longer and faster fighter on the feet, and the spectre of that impressive ground game always looms. But given how much difficulty Calvillo has found building momentum in her fights, there's no reason to pick the American here; the pick is Rodriguez via decision.
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