A pivotal women’s flyweight bout is heading to Abu Dhabi. Sources have confirmed to BJPenn.com that Joanne Calderwood will take on Andrea Lee at UFC 242. The event will take place on Sept. 7 at The Arena in Yas Island. The bout was first reported by MMA Junkie.
Joanne Calderwood was knocking on the door of a women’s flyweight title shot against Valentina Shevchenko before she suffered a unanimous decision loss to Katlyn Chookagian last month at UFC 238. Prior to the setback, “JoJo” had picked up a first-round submission win over Kalindra Faria at UFC Fight Night 135 and a unanimous decision victory against Ariane Lipski at UFC on ESPN+ 1. Calderwood has been able to get on track after back-to-back losses to Jessica Andrade in September 2016 and Cynthia Calvillo 10 months later.
Andrea Lee has been on an absolute tear over the last couple of years as she will bring a seven fight winning streak into Abu Dhabi. Since entering the UFC, “KGB” has picked up unanimous decision wins over Veronica Macedo, Ashlee Evans-Smith and, most recently, Montana De La Rosa at last month’s UFC Greenville event. Lee has since jumped up to no.7 in the women’s flyweight rankings and is looking to get to the top of the championship conversation.
The last time Lee suffered a defeat in the cage was back in March 2016 when she was submitted in the third round by Sarah D’Alelio at Invicta FC 16.
UFC 242 will be headlined by Khabib Nurmagomedov defending the UFC lightweight title against the interim champion, Dustin Poirier in a highly anticipated unification bout. Other bouts scheduled to take place at the organization’s return to Abu Dhabi include Belal Muhammad taking on Takashi Sato in a welterweight contest, a heavyweight bout between Curtis Blaydes and Shamil Abdurakhimov, as well as a lightweight showdown between Islam Makhachev and Davi Ramos.
Who do you think takes a step forward in title contention between Joanne Calderwood and Andrea Lee?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/3/2019.