Paige VanZant Vs Joanne Calderwood has been announced as the main event for UFC Fight Night 80 on December 10th in Las Vegas.
The 21 year-old VanZant just signed a new contract with the UFC on Thursday after going 3-0 in the Octagon to date. While ‘PVZ’ is still very much a work in progress at this stage her athletic ability and raw talent are already shining through, and together with her cover girl looks she has the potential to be the next big breakout star in woman’s MMA.
It wasn’t so long ago that her opponent Calderwood was also being tipped as a star with her gentle Scottish accent melting fans hearts, in direct contrast to her vicious muay thai striking which had helped rank her as the No.3 seed while on the TUF 20 reality show.
The 28 year-old has so far not quite lived up to the hype yet though, losing in the quarter finals of TUF and suffering a first round armbar loss to Maryna Moroz in the UFC, the latter sandwiched between solid rather than spectacular wins over unranked opponents SeoHee Ham and Cortney Casey.
PVZ has climbed to No.6 in the strawweight rankings, while Calderwood is currently placed just a couple of places behind at No.8, so there’s a lot at stake here for these two popular 115lb’ers in what will be their first ever headlining appearance in the UFC.
PVZ Vs Calderwood fronts the Fight Pass show on Thursday, December 10th that will serve as the first in a three night run of events for the UFC, followed by the TUF 22 Finale on the Friday and then the big one, UFC 194: Aldo Vs McGregor on the Saturday night.
The co-main event of UFC Fight Night 80 will be Joe Lauzon Vs Michael Chiesa, while John Howard Vs Tim Means is among a number of other bouts that have been confirmed for the show.
