UFC women’s flyweight contender Joanne Calderwood will not fight for the championship in her next fight. Combate’s Adriano Albuquerque and Raphael Marinho report that Calderwood replaces Vivi Araújo to fight Jennifer Maia at UFC Fight Night 173 on August 1st. Araújo was pulled from the card after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Calderwood was scheduled to fight Valentina Shevchenko for the UFC women’s flyweight championship at the original UFC 251 card on June 6. In preparation for the fight, Shevchenko suffered a leg injury and the fight was canceled. Calderwood was hoping the fight would be rescheduled to get her opportunity to fight for the title. However, Calderwood revealed in her recent Instagram post that Shevchenko will need more time than expected and that she has decided to move on. She is coming off of a win over Andrea Lee by split decision at UFC 242 on September 7, 2019. Although the fight may risk being next in line to fight Shevchenko, Calderwood is ready to fight again.
Maia will have her biggest opportunity to date in the UFC when she faces Calderwood. Maia is coming off a loss against former title challenger Katlyn Chookagian by unanimous decision at UFC 244 on November 2, 2019. Before her loss, Maia was on a two-fight win streak with wins over Roxanne Modafferi and Alexis Davis. She was also the Invicta FC women’s flyweight champion before coming to the UFC. A win over Calderwood can put Maia in the conversation as the next contender to fight Shevchenko.