3 takeaways from UFC Fight Night: Eye vs. Calvillo

Cynthia Calvillo beat former women's flyweight title challenger Jessica Eye via unanimous decision in the UFC Fight Night main event on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Also on the card, rising prospect Marvin Vettori submitted Karl Roberson in the first round of their middleweight bout.

Here are three takeaways from the event.

Calvillo a welcome addition to women's flyweight

Women's flyweight isn't a strong division, and the fact that its champion, Valentina Shevchenko, is one of the sport's most dominant fighters doesn't help.

The weight class needs all the athletes it can get, or else Shevchenko will empty it out. "Bullet" has sat on the throne for only a year and a half and has already knocked off three top contenders. Yes, as 125-pound prospects continue to win fights, they'll eventually become contenders. But right now, there's the exact opposite of an influx of fighters waiting for a title shot.

Calvillo, who previously competed at strawweight during her seven other Octagon appearances, is definitely a welcome addition to flyweight. She took out the No. 1 contender - who has already challenged Shevchenko for the belt - in her divisional debut. There's no way Eye would've been fighting Shevchenko again anytime soon, especially after missing weight in her past two fights, so the UFC needed this turnover.

The promotion will likely give Calvillo one more fight before facing Shevchenko, as the champ is expected to square off against Joanne Calderwood later this year. But realistically, the 32-year-old is no more than one win away from a title shot, and she's undoubtedly a top contender now.

UFC president Dana White was previously eyeing Calvillo as a future star, so he won't be complaining whatsoever about her quick rise.

Poor showing from Roberson

When Roberson missed weight for the second straight time this past week, some fans thought he was legitimately trolling Vettori.

After all, who misses weight a month after - you guessed it - missing weight, being hospitalized, and getting yanked from a fight due to medical issues stemming from a weight cut? Vettori was upset when Roberson came in overweight the first time, so the theory is that Roberson wanted to make his opponent even more emotional and throw him off once fight night rolled around.

If that was indeed his plan, it didn't work.

Vettori finished "Baby K" with a rear-naked choke in the first round, settling their grudge once and for all. The Italian-born athlete proved to be the better and more well-rounded mixed martial artist of the two.

Missing weight once isn't a good look, and missing weight twice over a month is inexcusable. But missing weight twice, then losing in the first round? That's just horrible all around.

Roberson entered the fight riding a two-fight winning streak, so despite his recent weight misses, it would be bold of the promotion to send him walking. But the 29-year-old has absolutely not made a good impression over the past month, and particularly the last two days, with the UFC brass.

Why the card wasn't stacked

Eye-Calvillo is far from the caliber of UFC main event that fans are used to seeing, and the entire card was a weak offering.

It makes sense that the UFC found itself promoting an event without any top names during these unprecedented times amid a global pandemic.

Ultimately, Saturday's event was an indication there aren't nearly as many fighters - especially big names - willing to compete during the coronavirus pandemic as Dana White and the UFC would have you think.

There was only one ranked fighter on the card (Eye). When has that ever happened, barring injuries that result in major fight cancellations? Eye-Calvillo was the main event from the beginning (though it was only announced a few weeks ago), and Vettori-Roberson was the planned co-headliner. There's no way that booking those fights at the top of a card was the promotion's first choice. Instead, it seems like other options were simply not available.