- Cynthia Calvilla discussed her lengthy break and UFC return
- The UFC strawweight talked about her thoughts on possibly getting cut
- The 36-year-old is looking to get back to the win column
Cynthia Calvillo is stepping back inside Octagon against Piera Rodriguez to get the most of another opportunity to finally secure a win.
Cynthia wanted to return sooner
In an exclusive interview with Middle Easy, Calvillo admitted that she would’ve wanted to return sooner rather than later but “lingering” injuries hindered her from doing so.
“Well, I got injured. I had a couple of injuries lingering and I pulled my hamstring and I had some knee issues like right before about like two to three weeks before I was scheduled to fight Elise Reed on September 16th so ultimately ended up having it pulled out and yeah I didn’t get anything uh rescheduled until now so I was on the waiting list for a minute,” Calvillo said.
“Definitely wanted to get in there a little bit sooner you know I used to always staying busy like having three to four fights a year and these last couple years have been really slow for me so like last year only fought one time so I really want to stay busy. Definitely wanted to fight a little bit sooner but you know bakers can’t be choosers so I’ll take what I can get for now,” she added.
Cynthia feared getting cut
Calvillo has yet to taste another win since 2020. Her last win was against Jessica Eye at UFC on ESPN 10. She is now facing Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 90 coming off a five-fight losing streak. Admittedly, Calvillo said she was worried about getting cut by the promotion.
“Being on a five-fight losing streak is obviously you know your chances are very high to get cut and I think I’ve always just kind of showed that I was always down and I never said NO to any of the fights so I feel like there’s even some losses that I took that there was a lot of things going on and I just stepped up to the plate and I always stepped up to the plate so you know this opportunity, this is my last fight on my contract, I have been busting my butt. I’m not a quitter and you know no matter what happens you know I just want to continue to keep going so I’m trying to just leave that all behind and you know just focus on this fight. This is my only concern… after the fight, we’ll figure out what’s next,” Calvillo said.
Awkward moments with Piera
Calvillo also opened up about seeing Cynthia at UFC PI. There was never a commotion whatsoever but Calvillo revealed that they used to share awkward moments inside the locker room.
“I think it’s a great matchup. She is predominantly a striker she’s very tough, she’s very strong, she’s gritty you know I live here in Vegas and she actually just moved to Vegas a couple of months ago so I see her at the PI pretty much every single day,” Calvillo said of Rodgriquez.
“I’m respectful. We’re both respectful. We’re not best friends or anything like that we know we got a job to do so we just make it work. We just passed by we schedule our time they just try to make sure we’re scheduled at a different time so we’re not around each other when we’re training but a lot of times we’re you know, we’re just passing by, we spend a lot of time in the locker rooms by ourselves so it’s sometimes a little bit awkward silent but at the same,” he added.
Everything for the W
As expected, the hungry Calvillo vows to dominate her upcoming opponent, preferably on the ground.
“I just want to go out there and have some fun, gonna push the pace as I always do and you know just try to get my hands on her, take down, sub her, ground and pound, whatever I need to do. I just want to bloody her up,”
Cynthia wants to retire with the UFC
Cynthia fought 13 of her 16 fights under the UFC banner. Needless to say, the 36-year-old doesn’t see any reason why she shouldn’t retire with the company.
“I would definitely love to retire in the UFC. I’ve literally, all of my fights have been against UFC fighters except for one, which was my pro debut so it’d be really cool to be like the only UFC fighter like professional fighter that essentially had my whole career against nothing but high level opponents,” Calvillo concluded.
Calvillo vs. Rodriguez will take place at UFC Vegas 90 on April 6.
Watch Calvillo’s full interview below:
