JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - APRIL 24: Jessica Andrade of Brazil is introduced prior to facing Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan in their UFC women's flyweight championship bout during the UFC 261 event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on April 24, 2021 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC)

Jessica Andrade Stops Cynthia Calvillo Early At UFC 266

Jessica Andrade brutally finishes Cynthia Calvillo at UFC 266

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Las Vegas, Nevada once again tonight, September 25, 2021, for an incredibly stacked night of fights at UFC 266.

Headlining the event is Alexander Volkanovski, who is looking to defend his UFC featherweight championship for a second time tonight opposing No. 2 ranked contender Brian Ortega.

Co-headlining the event is perhaps the greatest female fighter alive, Valentina Shevchenko, who looks to defend her UFC flyweight championship for the sixth time against Lauren Murphy.

Our feature fight of the night came between former four-time Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz and former three-time UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler, a rematch of their 2004 clash.

That night saw Diaz the victor via KO in round two, a surprise to most.

Now, 209 months later, so ironically, Diaz returns for the first time in nearly seven years to take on a fellow legend, who happened to win the UFC championship in his absence. Perhaps tonight will tell us whether or not Nick Diaz could’ve ever become UFC champion.

Starting off the main card tonight was a women’s flyweight bout between former UFC strawweight champion, No. 1 ranked Jessica Andrade, who faced No. 5 ranked Cynthia Calvillo around 10pm ET.

Both women are coming off defeats, and both are looking to get back into the winners circle here tonight.

Continue reading to see how this bout went down:

Official Result: Jessica Andrade def. Cynthia Calvillo via TKO (punches) at 4:54 of round one

Round 1

Andrade comes out controlling the center as soon as the fight begins, and she starts to get her leg kicks going, throwing them quite heavily we might add.

Calvillo is dancing around the edge of the octagon, and is countering Andrade’s leg kicks with some punches.

However, Andrade begins countering Calvillo’s punches, and from the first one that lands, we can tell a serious difference in power. Andrade continues chasing Calvillo around the octagon but Calvillo’s staying tough, eating Andrade’s shots thus far.

Andrade then hurts Calvillo and unloads on her, and within 30 seconds the fight was stopped at the end of round one.

Andrade is now 2-1 at 125 lbs, her only defeat coming to the champion, and two victories coming via late first round knockout. She’s also the second fighter tonight to win on her birthday, Chris Daukaus was the first with his TKO victory over Shamil Abdurakhimov.

If you enjoyed this piece, please feel free to share it on social media!

author avatar
Brady Ordway
I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!