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<h3><a href="/go=news.detail&gid=457052" target="_blank">
Calderwood on how 125 fight came about
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<p>The UFC starts divisions when they is sufficient depth the justify them. For example, there is not a super heavyweight division at present, nor are there plans to start one, as there are not several dozen active top fighters over 265. When the league started at women's division, it was at 135, and centered on Ronda Rousey.</p>
Next up was 115, with the idea that the fighters at 125 could move up or down to 115 or 135, so the UFC would get all the female fighters from say 105-145, with just two division. But the depth in WMMA is increasing, and the UFC has said it is "looking into possibly opening a women's flyweight division in the future."
The first UFC fight at that weight will take place at UFC Fight Night 89 on June 18 as Joanne Calderwood fights in Valerie Letourneau in what the UFC is calling a "special flyweight attraction." The UFC notes this is not the beginning of a new women's flyweight division.
Calderwood appeared recently on The MMA Hour, and explained that it began when UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby asked her to fight at UFN 89 on seven weeks notice. It takes Jojo ten weeks to cut to the 116 strawweight limit, so she made a special request.
"I just asked him out there, like, (take a) chance," said Calderwood, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. "I knew I was asking for him to be like, ‘shut up b**** and get on with your day, you've signed your contract at 115.' But actually he got back to me and he was like, ‘I'll let you know.'
"Then, next time, he was like, ‘okay, what about Valerie at 125?' I was like perfect, let's do it. He was like, ‘okay, I'll try and get the green light.' Then he did, and Bob's your uncle, what you don't ask for, you don't get."
"I could probably make 115 in the next seven weeks, but I just didn't want to kill myself. It's been hard. I haven't been walking around at my normal walk-around weight. When I did it when I was going into the (The Ultimate Fighter) house, 10 months before, and then when I was in the house, I was miserable. I was like eating two eggs and just chicken and spinach.
"I just don't want to walk around like that. Obviously I want to walk around healthy and happy, so it's been hard. Usually when I make 115, I usually need like 10 weeks' notice and just bring it down gradually. But the fights that were coming up were like short notice. If it's 125, I could easily make these fights and I could take them on short notice. But 115, it'd kill me."
"I think there's going to be a lot of girls who want to come down and want to come up. So I think an interesting thing to do. I don't know if it will (become a new division) or not, but you know what the UFC is like, they're usually one step ahead and they probably have maybe been thinking about it. Let's hope they have."
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