Glasgow’s Joanne Calderwood (9-1) will be looking to get back on track this weekend after suffering the first loss of her MMA career at the hands of Maryna Moroz back in April at UFC Fight Night 64 in Poland.
Calderwood was originally supposed to have the opportunity to get back in the win column against former Ultimate Fighter housemate Bec Rawlings. However the Aussie pulled out of the fight after being diagnosed with a nasty stress fracture of her thighbone just a week ago, forcing the UFC to find a suitable replacement which came in the form of UFC newcomer Cortney Casey-Sanchez (4-1).
Casey-Sanchez has built a reputation as a finishing machine outside of the UFC. All of her professional victories have materialised in the first round, and she also boasts an excellent finishing rate in her eight amateur fights. Admittedly Calderwood has faced more legitimate opposition by a mile, but that does not mean that she can sleep on the American’s well rounded skill set.
Anybody that has been following the UFC’s strawweight division knows by now that Joanne Calderwood has some of the best Thai boxing skills in women’s MMA. Her clinch striking is unparalleled, and she is a master of managing distance with her kicks and knees. So far in her UFC career she hasn’t faced much adversity on the feet and has proved very difficult to take down however as we saw in the Moroz fight, things can turn very bad, very quickly for JoJo if she finds herself on the ground with a skilled submission artist. Undoubtedly Calderwood has been working on her grappling more than ever in recent months, most likely with a specific focus on armbar defence.
As previously mentioned, Cortney Casey-Sanchez has a very well rounded MMA game. She has above average striking skills, using basic straight punch combinations and often topping them off with a round kick. She displays a kind of smoothness with her striking fundamentals that I think has yet to become commonplace in women’s MMA, especially with the kind of low-level opposition that Casey-Sanchez has faced in the past. She’ll find it difficult to shine while trading strikes with the likes of Calderwood. Although many have found it quite easy to take Casey-Sanchez down throughout her career, she has displayed excellent hips and has showcased the ability to sweep her opponent and dominate proceedings when the fight hits the mat, whether it was on her terms or not.
Despite Casey-Sanchez’s good jiu-jitsu skills, I find it difficult to see Joanne being taken to the ground. In my opinion this fight will be mainly contested on the feet, with Calderwood using her superior striking to keep distance and gain the advantage. JoJo might also be well advised to push her opponent against the fence and use her notoriously effective clinch-striking arsenal to control the fight. Possessing a pretty huge 4” height advantage, Joanne is the much larger strawweight and may use this size difference to her advantage in the wrestling department as well as with her outside striking game. She is more than capable to taking Casey-Sanchez down, and may be eager to display the new wrestling skills that we have seen flashes of in the past. If she chooses to adopt this strategy, she would benefit from employing heavy top pressure and being extra wary of her opponent’s active hips if she wants to avoid a repeat of the Moroz fight. Another interesting factor for Calderwood to consider in this fight is the fact that her opponent owns a win via flying armbar. Given Calderwood’s partiality for the standing clinch and susceptibility to armbars, this explosive submission is something that she definitely needs to be wary of when engaging with Casey-Sanchez.
In conclusion I see this fight becoming a rather one sided striking match in favour of Calderwood, with Casey-Sanchez possibly having some moments of her own on the feet. I think that Calderwood will dominate the rounds, and take her opponent down in the closing seconds of the round to solidify the favour of the judges while denying Cortney sufficient time to establish anything offensive from her back.
Prediction: Joanne Calderwood via Unanimous Decision.
LUKE HENAGHAN
FEATURE WRITER
A nocturnal troglodyte that only ventures out of his cave in Leeds for Domino’s pizza or Budweiser. Do not be fooled though, as despite his troll-like nature Luke is quite the wordsmith and possess excellent leg-kicks.
