Scotland’s finest women’s MMA fighter Joanne Calderwood is scheduled to fight for the UFC Women’s Flyweight title against champion Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 251.
Though, Calderwood feels like the MMA community isn’t giving her much of a shot.
Ahead of the bout she has been pegged as a significant underdog, while the champ Shevchenko has been labelled a massive favorite. A lot of fight fans and pundits seem to consider these odds to be accurate.
Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show not long after her title shot against Shevchenko was announced, Calderwood reacted to this clear lack of belief from the MMA community. The soft-spoken Scotswoman was nothing but class in her response.
“I know [Shevchenko] has earned it with everything she’s done,” Calderwood said. “I just know as long as my team respect me and believe in me — and Valentina, I know she respects me as the next opponent for her — that’s all I can ask for.”
With that being said, Joanne Calderwood says she might stay away from her social media in the lead-up to her fight against Shevchenko, in order to avoid all the negativity.
“I might have to stay off the Internet cause there’s a lot of ‘oh man, [Shevchenko is] unbeatable’ and ‘Jojo’s going to get her ass beat’ or whatever it is,” Calderwood said. “There’s that doubt in everyone’s mind, but [Shevchenko] has earned that. She’s put herself there. I’m going to get my head down and work my ass off and show up on the night.”
Joanne Calderwood last fought in the Octagon in September, 2019, when she beat Andrea Lee via split decision to catapult herself to one of the top spots in the UFC Women’s Flyweight division. Before that fight, she lost a decision to Shevchenko’s latest opponent, Katlyn Chookagian.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 26th February, 2020.
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