Jessica I – Joan Calderwood. Forecast and announcement for the fight

UFC 257 tournament bout

The first numbered UFC tournament in 2021 will take place in Abu Dhabi (UAE) this Sunday. A nice bonus of UFC 257 will be that the tournament at the Etihad Arena will be able to attend about 2,000 fans.

For most fans, UFC 257 is just a rematch between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier, but the matchmakers have prepared a pretty good warm-up for the main course.

The PPV card will not be complete without a fight among the girls, #6 and #7 flyweight rankings Ai and Calderwood respectively will determine which of them is worthy of a place in the top 5.

In 2018, Ai returned to flyweight after losing four in a row, going on a three-fight streak and getting a title shot. In 2019, at UFC 238, she was predictably knocked out by division hegemon Valentina Shevchenko, after which Jessica won a decision against Vivian Araujo at UFC 245, and in June 2020, Ai again lost by unanimous decision to Cynthia Calvillo. Before the last two fights, Ai failed the weigh-in, however, she still competes in the 125-pound category.

Calderwood has been in the UFC since 2014, but more than twice in a row she has not run in the octagon. The Scot has lost two of her three fights. Between a loss to Kathleen Chookagian by a decision and a submission by Jennifer Maye, she won a very close fight on points against Andrea Lee.

Prediction for the fight

Ai and Calderwood are stylistically similar in some ways – each of them is strong as a drummer and often has difficulty on the ground.

Here you should expect the fight to take place in the stand, and since each of its participants does not often win or lose by knockout, the fight has every chance of going through three rounds. Calderwood has a richer arsenal, she uses low kicks skillfully, while Ai relies more on boxing skills. We predict that due to kicks, the British will eventually win in a competitive duel over Ai, who, moreover, can still be negatively affected by exhausting weight race.

Calderwood win on points

Main card

Conor McGregor – Dustin Poirier

Michael Chandler – Dan Hooker

Jessica I – Joan Calderwood

Matt Frevola – Ottman Azaitar

Marina Rodriguez – Amanda Ribas

preliminary card

Nasrat Khakparast – Arman Tsarukyan

Brad Tavares – António Carlos Junior

Julianna Peña – Sarah McMann

Khalil Rowntree – Marcin Prahnio

Early preliminary card

Andrew Sanchez – Mahmud Muradov

Movsar Evloev – Nick Lenz

Amir Albazi – Zhalgas Zhumagulov

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