Valérie Létourneau Faces Joanne Calderwood At UFC Fight Night 89Recent women’s strawweight title challenger Valérie “Trouble” Létourneau is set to compete in her home country on June 18th at UFC Fight Night 89: “MacDonald vs Thompson” in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Létourneau will face off against Joanne “JoJo” Calderwood in a unique one-off flyweight bout.

UFC officials announced the matchup today and further clarified that it does not represent the creation of a full-time 125-pound women’s weight class. Létourneau recently dropped a Unanimous Decision to Joanna Jędrzejczyk in November, while Calderwood is coming off of a close victory in July.

Létourneau (8-4-0) began her UFC career as a bantamweight and scored a short-notice Split Decision victory over Elizabeth Phillips at UFC 174. She opted to move down to the 115-pound strawweight division for her next fight, which ended in a convincing decision win over Jessica “The Ragin'” Rakoczy one year ago. In August, Létourneau earned a UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship shot by defeating Maryna “The Iron Woman” Moroz at UFC Fight Night 74, but her title hopes were dashed by Jędrzejczyk at UFC 193. Létourneau will be the first woman to compete in three UFC weight classes.

Calderwood (10-1-0) was on a fast track to a strawweight title shot after winning her UFC debut against former Deep Jewels champion Seo Hee Ham at The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale, but those plans were derailed when she was upset by Moroz in 90 seconds at UFC Fight Night 64. In spite of the crushing loss, Calderwood wasted no time in getting back into action, and she returned to the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 72 in July. After a shaky start, Calderwood rallied in rounds two and three en route to a close Unanimous Decision victory over Cortney “Cast Iron” Casey.

UFC Fight Night 89: “MacDonald vs Thompson” takes place on June 18th at TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The event is headlined by a welterweight bout between Rory “Red King” MacDonald and Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, and also features a women’s strawweight bout between Randa “Quiet Storm” Markos and Jocelyn “Lights Out” Jones-Lybarger.

 

 

(Photo Credit: UFC)