Former UFC fighter Cynthia Calvillo has announced that she’s retiring from the sport at 38-years-old.

“It’s time to say goodbye to a sport that I gave everything to and that I loved so much,” Calvillo wrote on Instagram. “I wasn’t ready to let it go just yet but life and opportunities that fizzled out has led me to pursue the next chapter in my life.

“I just want to say thank you to every single person that helped me live this crazy dream of mine. To all the coaches that believed in me and spent countless hours making me the best I could I be, y’all don’t know how much it means to me.

“To the UFC, Dana White [and matchmakers], thanks for letting this little girl from East Side San Jose live her dream! It was f*cking dope being a superhero!”

Calvillo arrived in the UFC just three fights into her pro-career and hit the ground running with three wins in a row in 2017, impressing Dana White so much that he sat beside her at the UFC 210 post-fight press conference after she submitted Pearl Gonzalez and likened her to Ronda Rousey.

However, Calvillo hit a bump in the road at the end of that year when she was not only beaten by Carla Esparza on the scorecards, but also tested positive for marijuana afterwards and had to serve a three-month suspension.

Calvillo would then get back on track with three wins and a draw over the next couple of years, though a couple of weight-cut failures forced her up to 125lbs during that time.

Unfortunately for Calvillo, by the end of 2020 she hit a slump in form that would continue for the rest of her UFC run, losing five fights in a row before finally being released in 2023.

Calvillo has only fought once since then, earning a unanimous decision win to claim a flyweight title on the regional circuit last year, leaving her overall MMA record at 10-6-1.