Cynthia Calvillo bests Jessica Eye to take unanimous decision
On Saturday night, Cynthia Calvillo instantly inserted herself as a contender in a UFC women’s flyweight division in sore need of challengers to Valentina Shevchenko’s crown.
Calvillo was on the losing side of the opening round, with Jessica Eye taking centre of the Octagon and letting fly with punches.
That provided food for thought for Calvillo and her corner and they switched things up for the second round and beyond.
Calvillo’s punching combinations became quicker and increasingly aggressive. The Californian started to hit some big takedowns, too – which was ultimately the decisive factor in her victory.
Eye did well to survive multiple dangerous situations she found herself in on the ground, but she was unable to establish any kind of rhythm after that first round.
Calvillo’s dominance in the grappling stakes saw her leave the Octagon rightly victorious as the judges all scored the fight in her favour.
Marvin Vettori mauls Karl Roberson, wins by submission
There’s no love lost between Marvin Vettori and Karl Roberson.
Roberson’s issues with his weight cut in Jacksonville, Florida saw their fight scrapped last month, leading to a verbal altercation between the pair in a hotel lobby.
New Jersey’s Roberson again failed to make weight for this contest, weighing 4.5 pounds over the middleweight limit.
However, the fight went ahead this time round in the UFC’s Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada and Vettori had the last laugh.
Vettori bided his time on the feet before looking to take Roberson to the floor.
The Italian almost gave up his back to Roberson on a single-leg takedown attempt, but scrambled well to take a dominant position to land some ground and pound.
Amid another scramble, Vettori caught Roberson in a tight-looking guillotine choke attempt. The latter was inventive in his way to escape the choke, using his legs to launch off the cage to loosen Vetorri’s grip.
But Vettori powered back into a dominant position on the ground to unload more punches and elbows before sneaking in an arm to secure a rear-naked choke.
Roberson quickly tapped and Vettori went on to call out UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, a man he’s already faced before and lost a closely contested split decision.
UFC on ESPN: Eye vs. Calvillo full results
Catchweight (126.25 lbs): Cynthia Calvillo def. Jessica Eye by unanimous decision after five rounds
Catchweight (190.5 lbs): Marvin Vettori def. Karl Roberson by submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:17 of round one
Lightweight: Charles Rosa def. Kevin Aguilar Decision by split decision after three rounds
Featherweight: Andre Fili def. Charles Jourdain by split decision after three rounds
Bantamweight: Jordan Espinosa def. Mark De La Rosa by unanimous decision after three rounds
Women’s Flyweight: Mariya Agapova def. Hannah Cifers by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:42 of round one
Catchweight (140 lbs): Merab Dvalishvili def. Gustavo Lopez by unanimous decision after three rounds
Women’s Bantamweight: Julia Avila def. Gina Mazany by TKO (punches) at 0:22 of round one
Catchweight (138.5 lbs): Tyson Nam def. Zarrukh Adashev by KO (punch) at 0:32 of round one
Welterweight: Christian Aguilera def. Anthony Ivy by TKO (punches) at 0:59 of round one