Competing in front of hometown fans and supporters, Scottish star Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood picked up a thrilling victory tonight at UFC Fight Night 72: “Bisping vs Leites” in Glasgow, Scotland. Calderwood defeated Cortney “Cast Iron” Casey-Sanchez, who took the fight on just ten days’ notice.

Casey nearly finished Calderwood with strikes on the feet in the opening seconds, but Calderwood regained her composure and she took control of the fight in the later rounds. She dropped Casey with a spinning back kick to the liver in round three and walked away with a Unanimous Decision win.

Calderwood (10-1-0) was badly rocked by an early barrage of punches from Casey (4-2-0), who entered tonight’s bout in place of Calderwood’s original opponent, “Rowdy” Bec Rawlings. Casey kept the pressure on with more strikes in the clinch and she attempted a flying armbar. Calderwood spent most of the round on top in Casey’s guard, but Casey was very active from the bottom and she attacked with elbow strikes and more armbar attempts. Calderwood fought off a heel hook attempt and she finished the entertaining round with ground and pound.

The second round was a much better one for Calderwood, who backed Casey up with early punches and followed with knees in a clinch. She took Casey down on two occasions and landed punches from the top before standing and motioning for Casey to follow. Calderwood targeted Casey’s midsection with knees and punches late in the round and Casey finally began to show signs of fatigue.

Following an exchange of power punches in round three, Calderwood dropped Casey with a spinning back kick to the liver and she pounced on her downed foe with hard punches. Casey recovered and Calderwood allowed her to briefly stand up before pushing her back down to the mat. Casey stood again and she jumped guard in hopes of securing a late-fight kneebar. Calderwood easily escaped and she capped off the fight with more hard punches from top position before time expired.

All three judges scored the fight for Calderwood, who got back on track in a big way after suffering a shocking submission loss to Maryna “The Iron Woman” Moroz in April. Casey, for her part, put forth an excellent showing against the highly-ranked Calderwood in hostile territory and on such short notice.

Winner: Joanne Calderwood by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) after three rounds. She improves to 10-1-0.

(Photo Credit: Esther Lin, AllElbows.com / InvictaFC.com)