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Most fighters look all tired and exhausted in the week leading up to a fight night, but not Cynthia Calvillo. She is all pumped up and excited to be in the MMA camp and push herself beyond her limits.
At Wednesday's open workouts, Calvillo told MMA Junkie what it feels to be grueling ahead of her UFC on ESPN 7 bout with Marina Rodriguez.
Calvillo loves what she does for a living
Unlike most other fighters, Calvillo is enjoying her time at the pre-event camp to the fullest.
"We like to say that sometimes when we look at fighters during fight week, it’s like they’re going to their funeral. Not for me. I don’t feel that way at all. I’m having so much fun. These camps, they’re so grueling sometimes."
For the Strawweight contender, a fight week is as much enjoyable as her birthday week, she said in the scrum, but minus the cake.
"We put in so much time and energy, especially like myself. I love what I do for my job for a living. I train so hard that when I get to fight week it’s almost like my birthday week – besides having to eat cake everyday. I’m not going to get my cake until Saturday night, which is fine."
Calvillo understands that the challenge in front of her is not an easy one, especially with Rodriguez being a fighter who is yet to be defeated in her professional career and is riding on a two-win streak at UFC.
But she has enough faith in her training and abilities, which she hopes to put into use not only to beat Rodriguez, but to achieve her ultimate goal of becoming "the baddest woman on the planet".
"There are a lot of things I do in training I feel are yet to come out,” Calvillo said. I feel like the more I fight, the more those things are going to come out. Eventually, people aren’t going to say, ‘Hey, that’s Cynthia Calvillo – the jiu-jitsu fighter.’ It’s going to be, ‘Cynthia Calvillo – the baddest woman on the planet.’"
The fight will take place at UFC on ESPN 7 at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. on Saturday, December 7.
