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#4 UFC Flyweight Division: Katlyn Chookagian vs. Cynthia Calvillo

Can Cynthia Calvillo become a title contender at Flyweight?

Despite Chookagian’s last fight being a bad loss – a TKO at the hands of Jessica Andrade – there’s still an outside chance that with a win here, she could be right back in title contention. That’s a sign of how thin the UFC women’s Flyweight division is right now, unfortunately.

Calvillo is largely in the same boat. She’s had just one fight at 125lbs thus far – a strong win over former UFC title challenger Jessica Eye – but could easily find herself in a title fight if she can win here. Unfortunately, it’s going to be an extremely tricky task for her.

Calvillo has been compared to a female version of Nick Diaz on numerous occasions. This is largely because she’s an excellent ground-fighter who seems more than happy to trade blows with her opponent on the feet. However, the comparison also comes because while her ground game is excellent, we’ve seen on a few occasions that she struggles to get fights down.

She dominated Marina Rodriguez on the ground, for instance, but ended up with a draw rather than a win because she was outmatched when Rodriguez stopped her takedown. And Carla Esparza – the fighter responsible for her lone loss – was also a superior wrestler.

Chookagian isn’t a perfect fighter by any means, largely because she lacks any kind of finishing ability. All of her seven UFC wins have come by decision, but she’s still highly skilled in all areas. On the feet, she’s a highly accurate striker, with a long, 68” reach. She's strong on the ground, too, as we saw when she defeated Antonina Shevchenko this summer.

It’s probably a fair argument that Calvillo might be the superior grappler in this fight, but can she really get the fight to the ground? I’m not convinced. Chookagian is far, far bigger than her, possesses strong takedown defense, and is highly likely to keep Calvillo at the end of her strikes, too.

Overall, I’m not quite sure why the UFC have booked this fight. Calvillo could’ve made a decent opponent for Shevchenko had she been positioned to string some wins together. However, in my mind, at least, this fight is one of the worst possible stylistic clashes for her in the division.

For Blonde Fighter, though, it should be business as usual – giving her an eighth UFC win by decision.

The Pick: Chookagian via unanimous decision