Washington D.C has always been full of “fat cats” and today two more joined the ranks as Cynthia Calvillo and Matt Sayles both missed weight for their UFC D.C. fights tomorrow night which will air on the ESPN family of networks.
Calvillo who is scheduled to be in the co-main event against fellow strawweight Marina Rodriguez missed the 116-pound mark by 4.5 pounds hitting the scale at a robust 120.5 pounds this morning. Calvillo will forfeit 30% of her purse to Rodriguez that is if Rodriguez accepts the fight at all.
Calvillo who is still young in her career needs to be more focused on keeping her career moving in a positive direction. After serving a nine-month suspension from the NSAC for marijuana after her loss to Carla Esparza in 2018. In her return bout, she missed weight by 2 pounds at UFC Argentina in November of 2018. Coming in today, and missing weight again, and by such a big number is not a great indicator that Calvillo is taking her career as serious as she should be.
Matt Sayles is fighting Bryce Mitchell in a featherweight bout on the prelims. Win or lose for Sayles he will go home with 20% less money due to his not making weight. The bout is still on and the fine is what has become the industry standard in cases like this.
Debuting fighters Jacob Kilburn (8-2) and Billy Quarantillo (12-2) as you can see here both came in very close to championship weight of 145 lbs. for their featherweight tilt. These 2 athletes who are experiencing a UFC fight week as UFC fighters for the first time showed their professionalism by hitting the target with ease. In the case of Kilburn, he took this booking on 8 days’ notice and made weight with no issue. Maybe the veterans need to take a page from the UFC rookie playbook in regards to making weight.
UFC on ESPN 7 #UFCDC – weigh-in results: MAIN CARD (ESPN, 9 p.m. ET)
Alistair Overeem (248) vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik (250.5)
Cynthia Calvillo (120.5) vs. Marina Rodriguez (115.5)
Ben Rothwell (265.2) vs. Stefan Struve (265.3)
Yana Kunitskaya (135.1) vs. Aspen Ladd (136)
Cody Stamann (135.2) vs. Song Yadong (135.2)
Rob Font (135.1) vs. Ricky Simon (135.2)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET)
Thiago Alves (171) vs. Tim Means (171)
Jacob Kilburn (145.3) vs. Billy Quarantillo (145.2)
Bryce Mitchell (145.2) vs. Matt Sayles (148.5)
Joe Solecki (155.6) vs. Matt Wiman (155.3)
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)
Virna Jandiroba (115) vs. Mallory Martin (115.5
) Makhmud Muradov (185.3) vs. Trevor Smith (185.5)
**Sayles missed the featherweight limit and will be fined 20 percent of his purse.
Christopher James has been in the MMA industry for 15 years, Working as a ring announcer for promotions like the XFC, Island Fights, Combat Night and Fight Nights Global during his career. Chris’ love for the sport and the athletes that partake in it led him to writing and doing face to face interviews with the athletes he admired and respected. Chris isn’t conventional by any stretch of the imagination, he has his own style, and takes pride in not being a “cookie-cutter” member of the media. Unique and sometimes controversial takes are what he brings to the table, forcing folks to think a little differently about the world of MMA. He also has a love for music as he has been a dj for 25 years and his love for music gets brought to the MMA world when he gets his guests to sing on his weekly show Cage Side with Christopher James which can be seen Wednesday nights on FACEBOOK LIVE, and soon via podcast.