Thursday, April 28, 2016

Valerie Letourneau vs Joanne Calderwood added to June 18 UFC show

This morning the UFC announced that Valerie Letourneau vs Joanne Calderwood has been added to UFC Fight Night 89 June 18 at TD Place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The interesting thing is that this fight will be at Flyweight. This will air on Fox Sports 1 in the US and TSN in Canada. At a December fan Q&A, UFC President Dana White said that they would add a Women's Flyweight division but he didn't say when. UFC Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk has also expressed interest in fighting at Flyweight. She wants to hold two titles. She fought at 125lb before she came to the UFC. And I'm sure if she was asked, her upcoming opponent Claudia Gadelha would say the same thing. Though the UFC has not committed to a Flyweight division yet, this is a sign that it's something of interest. They already have fighters on the roster who have fought at 125lb. And in the case of Valerie Letourneau, the cut to 115lb is very tough for her. And she is undersized for 135lb. She is better suited to fight at 125. Of course Valerie is a native of Montreal but she now trains at American Top Team in Florida. Valerie lost her Strawweight title shot. But obviously the UFC wants to keep her around and that's why they are looking at Flyweight. The last time we saw Joanne, she won over Cortney Casey last July in front of her home town fans in Glasgow, Scotland. Since then, she has moved to Montreal and trains at Tri Star. So I will be interested to see if she has picked up any new tricks there. Valerie trained at Tri Star for most of her career before moving to Florida a couple of years ago. I expect this to be a kickboxing match because neither fighter is adept on the ground. I wouldn't mind some surprises though. Look at this as a trial balloon. If it goes well, we could see a UFC Flyweight division by early 2017. That would be good.

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