Cynthia Calvillo responds to criticism surrounding UFC Argentina weigh-in miss

Last Saturday night, on the main card of UFC Argentina, long-time strawweight contender Cynthia Calvillo rebounded from her first pro loss and an unfortunate marijuana-related suspension with a first-round submission defeat of Poliana Botelho. At a glance, it was the perfect way to rebound from an undeniably tough year. Unfortunately, Calvillo missed weight for the fight, which has caused significant outrage among the sport’s often unforgiving fans.

Speaking on The MMA Hour on Monday, Cynthia Calvillo responded to this backlash from fans. She says she feels the weigh-in miss has diminished her performances, and that she’s eager to move on with her next fight.

“It was very emotional for me,” Calvillo said (transcript via MMA Fighting). “I went through a lot of shit — a lot of shit to get to this day. I don’t like leaving any room for excuses and that whole weight cut thing, even though I had no control of it … and that’s why I was just real embarrassed to get on that scale. But that took a lot away from it. I just want to get back. I want to get back and continue to prove myself. I know I belong at the top of the division, but I just don’t want to give anybody room to say anything about it. I want to go in there and win my fight and have not one person say shit about how, ‘Oh, you won that fight because you missed weight and you’re a fat ass.’ Just let me have it. I f*cking worked my ass off.

“Not feeling too great about it right now, but I just need another fight and come back and not give people another reason to talk shit.”

Cynthia Calvillo continued, saying the fan backlash has made it very difficult to enjoy her victory.

“It was even tough for me to enjoy [Saturday] night’s win just because of everything that happened,” she said. “I had such a tough year and I really wanted to prove myself and come back. I felt like me getting this win would have definitely turned this whole year back around. But then I missed weight and that was something completely out of my control what happened. I’m really bummed out about that. I was super bummed out. I feel like I haven’t been really too happy with my win, just because of that.

“It’s not so much the errors. We prepared for it, so right now I’m not really feeling the best. I wish I did. I wish I could have been like, this made it all better, everything happens for a reason. But I feel like I need to get back up there again and re-prove myself. I don’t know.”

What do you think the future holds for Cynthia Calvillo after UFC Argentina?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/20/2018.