UFC President Dana White had a feeling about a fighter to become like Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor, who received a ton of attention from the fans during their UFC career. The Notorious is still getting the love for his work inside the Octagon, whereas Rowdy has already retired and has taken her place in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Besides the fans, these two superstars received encouragement from UFC President Dana White from the very start. The veteran promoter got a feeling these two would thrive in his promotion from his initial conversation with them. But there was another, who left the same impression on the 52-year-old.
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During the UFC 210 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White sat down with female UFC fighter Cynthia Calvillo to answer the media’s questions. During the interview, White gave the ultimate praise to the female professional.
McGregor, Rousey, Calvillo#UFCVegas58 pic.twitter.com/tCTPY3f4g2
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) July 9, 2022
“There’s been times in my career – the first time I ever met Conor McGregor; I said, ‘I don’t know if this guy could fight but if he could even throw punches, he would be a rockstar’, Ronda Rousey – I had a 45 minutes meeting with and we started to do women’s MMA and I feel pretty strongly about this one [Cynthia Calvillo] too,” White said praising the victorious fighter.
The longtime promoter‘s praise didn’t pan out, hence fans berated his opinion.
remember when he said that dude from tuf was the next Anderson Silva/Gsp?
— joe (@crabcakes100) July 9, 2022
Yeah….never understood this one.
— Lars (@MMAyapper) July 9, 2022
what the fuck…this is real????
— . (@myoverhandleft) July 9, 2022
Jesus, this didn’t age well. https://t.co/zW8xybGu1e
— Kevin V. (@_KevinSV_) July 9, 2022
At the time, the California-born athlete was undefeated in her mixed martial arts career. Besides, she did something White has always liked in a fighter. Calvillo took back-to-back fights at UFC 209 and UFC 210 to stack two wins to start off her UFC career in just over a month’s time.
Dana White wasn’t right in her prediction of Cynthia Calvillo
UFC President’s opinion of the female fighter, unlike Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey, didn’t translate into similar performances inside the Octagon.
Calvillo started her UFC career with three consecutive wins. She lost a unanimous decision to two-time strawweight champion, Carla Esparza, in her fourth fight. But she bounced back from it to get herself on a four-fight unbeaten streak.
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Further, she successfully moved to the flyweight division to get a win over Jessica Eye, who was coming off a win after she failed to dethrone Valentina Shevchenko. However, Calvillo’s move to 125 lbs didn’t go as she would’ve planned. The Las Vegas-based athlete faced three straight losses to flyweight contenders – Katlyn Chookagian, Jéssica Andrade, and Andrea Lee.
Nonetheless, the 34-year-old will return to action against Nina Nunes on July 9.
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What do you make of Dana White’s prediction of Cynthia Calvillo? Share your perspective in the comments section.