Joanne Calderwood is finally happy and that makes her very dangerous
When Joanne Calderwood stepped into her fight against Valerie Letourneau in June it was like walking out into the light after being mired in the shadows for almost her entire UFC career.
Calderwood was 2-1 in the UFC when she accepted the bout against the former title contender, but her record may as well have been 0-0 after getting a fresh start in both her personal and professional life ahead of the showdown with Letourneau.
The Scottish strawweight made a backwards walk away from her former head coach — a relationship that was as much personal as it was professional — and she made the decision to move to Montreal for her training camp where she began working with head coach Firas Zahabi and his team at Tri-Star.
It took less than three rounds for Calderwood to pick Letourneau apart on the feet and finish her with a vicious striking combination — something strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzejczyk couldn't do just one fight earlier.
With her hand raised in the air, Calderwood was smiling from ear to ear but it wasn't just about the victory over Letourneau. It was as much about finally putting the past behind her and nothing signifies a fresh start for a fighter like an impressive win over a top notch opponent.
"I was in a good place and I enjoyed myself in there. Fighting's so crazy, there's so much that goes into it. It's not just you going in there and putting in all the training hours. A lot of it's mental and I just couldn't get that part right, especially with me not being happy outside of life," Calderwood told FOX Sports. "I tried to push my whole self and just focus on fighting and I couldn't do it. So I did have to take a step back and say right OK if that's not working, I need to look at what's going on.
"I figured a few things out. It was definitely my mentality and me not being happy. I concentrated on getting back to doing this kind of as a hobby and enjoying it. I started learning again and moving to Tri-Star, I started picking up new techniques and that's what I love to do. I kind of grew back in love with the sport and not my whole life was the sport."
The victory was therapeutic in some way because with each punch Calderwood landed it was if she was knocking down the wall that stood between potential and reality.
In the aftermath of the win, Calderwood finally understood something a coach of hers had told her while training in Iceland a couple of years ago. It wasn't exactly a Tony Robbins motivational speech, but it was simple advice that made sense when Calderwood finally lived it.
If there was one negative moment that got overblown after the fight was over it was Calderwood taking to Instagram to share her dismay about being passed over for a 'Performance of the Night' bonus that would have netted her an extra $50,000.
She tagged the post with the words "broke as hell" and even had a matching hat on her head while lamenting about not getting the bonus after a jaw dropping performance against a former title contender like Letourneau.
"That whole post kind of got blown out of proportion," Calderwood explained. "I wasn't having a dig at anyone. I was just a bit annoyed because I had got 'Performance of the Night' in Glasgow and I felt like my performance on that night wasn't as good as what I had done to Valerie (Letourneau) and my technique was perfect."
Whether she meant to get attention with the post or not, Calderwood heard from UFC president Dana White just days later as he promised to get her a bonus and a brand new contract, which would also pay her a lot more money.
And instantly the smile crept back across her face.
"They did (send me the bonus), I just got it a few weeks ago. I was really thankful for that," Calderwood said. "I got a new contract and I got my bonus so I'm happy."
With money in her back account and a win over a top ranked opponent, Calderwood was joyous but far from satisfied. The victory moved her up the strawweight rankings, but not the place where she wanted to be when first signing with the UFC in 2014.
So when matchmaker Sean Shelby came calling to ask her to fight at UFC 203 in Cleveland, Calderwood originally asked for either former champion Carla Esparza or top five ranked strawweight Tecia Torres but instead she was given Jessica Andrade.
The fiery Brazilian had just recently made her debut at 115 pounds where she laid waste to former title contender Jessica Penne with a vicious knockout and a fight with Calderwood had fireworks written all over it.
"Her fight against Jessica Penne was really, really good," Calderwood explained. "She was very aggressive and she basically punched the (expletive) out of Jessica, but I wouldn't put Jessica (Penne) as a striker. She's more of a jiu-jitsu girl and I watched that fight a few weeks ago and she's definitely not going to have her way with me how she had her way with Jessica.
"I think that Jessica's style, she's more of a bully. As long as I go in and perform and take all my tools with me, she's going to have a tough fight ahead of her. Mentally, I'm thinking about her steam rolling me or trying to take me down, but I'm keeping my options opened and I'm taking all of my tools in there with me and ready for anything."
Ready for anything.
Those are words Calderwood may have struggled to utter a year ago without a hint of false narrative dripping from her lips but now she says it with confidence and conviction.
Calderwood will now walk into her second straight fight with a clear head and a smile tucked behind the steely glare that will greet Andrade when they finally step into the Octagon together on Saturday night.
"I'm always trying to work hard and this is what I love doing," Calderwood said. "It's just for that one night and you want to put on a performance and make everybody happy with the fight."
