Joanne Calderwood competed, and lost, on the UFC 203 card in Cleveland, but good-hearted people will always come out on top.
Calderwood posted to her Facebook and Instagram accounts Sunday afternoon recounting her fight-week experience with a Cleveland native.
According to Calderwood, a homeless man walked down a Cleveland street alongside her and teammate Zach Makovsky. During the walk he made an impression by telling jokes and keeping them entertained. Charmed by the man, Calderwood told him that she would leave him a ticket to the sold-out event at Quicken Loans Arena.
That could have been where the story ended—a kind gesture by one of the sport’s nicest fighters. She was unsure if the man would even use the ticket, and if he did she would not have known. Instead, the man left a note for Calderwood at her hotel which she received while checking out.
It read:
Dearest Jovon,
Although you lost the fight you will always be a winner in life!
You are a rare and unique person. Kind, sweet and nonjudgemental. I wish you well in all that you do. I will never forget you!
Yours truly,Robert Butler
“The Unknown Comic”
He may have gotten her name wrong, but The Unknown Comic expressed just how special a person Calderwood is in the musings of his note. Calderwood mentioned in her social media post that she didn’t have the heart to correct him, but that she does “kinda like the name Jovon.”
The outcome of the sporting contest is not what Calderwood or Butler wanted, but they still came out of the fight weekend as winners for their kindness to one another.
