Joanne Calderwood backs Daly to beat Markos, open to fight ‘The Bash’

Before her bout with Maryna Moroz tonight in Krakow, Joanne Calderwood took some time to give her views on ‘Ais the Bash’ Daly’s upcoming bout with Randa Markos at UFC 186 in Montreal.

Having spent a lot of her time with both Daly and Markos during the filming of The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned, the Scottish strawweight thinks the unpredictability and experience of the Irish fighter will be too much for Markos in front of her hometown crowd.

“I was friendly with Aisling and Randa in the house,” stated Calderwood. “We trained a lot together in the house, we kind of had to because there was no one else to train with. Ais is very awkward and her style is very unpredictable and I think she will come away with the win.

“The original matchup with Claudia was a lot tougher, but everything happens for a reason. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this one goes. It’s not because I know both of the girls, I just really think it’s one that the fans are going to like it.

“It’s crazy, I don’t know what their game plans are going to be for each other. I think Ais’s experience and that awkward style of hers will see her hand raised on the night.”

In an exclusive interview with SevereMMA.com, Daly revealed that if she were offered a fight with ‘Jojo’ she would have no problem in taking it. Similarly, Calderwood insisted she would have no problem meeting the SBG strawweight if the fight was made, and even claimed that she and Daly had discussed the situation while they were in the TUF house.

“You’ve got to be open to every fight in the division. We’re professionals, this our job and we even spoke about the fact that we could potentially fight when we were in the house. The fact that we’re Europeans as well, there is no point in trying to pick and choose your matchups with UFC.

“As soon as we all came out of the TUF house it was back to business. You’ve got your friends and your family outside of the sport and they should be the only people you’re concerned about. It makes no sense to really close friends with somebody who could potentially affect your career. We have to be professionals,” said Calderwood.

@PetesyCarroll