Rawlings announces Calderwood out, newcomer Jessica-Rose Clark in at UFC-Sydney

Injury has forced Joanna Calderwood (11-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) out of next week’s UFC Fight Night 121 event, according to her intended opponent, Bec Rawlings (7-6 MMA, 2-3 UFC).

“Rowdy” took to social media to announced that with Calderwood out, she’ll now face promotional newcomer and fellow Aussie Jessica-Rose Clark (7-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 121, which takes place Nov. 19 at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. Due to the time change, the card airs in the U.S. on Nov. 18, with the majority airing on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Promotion officials have yet to confirm the change.

Rawlings looks to recover from back-to-back losses. “Rowdy” Bec got got her UFC shot courtesy of “The Ultimate Fighter 20.” On the show’s live finale, she dropped a decision to Heather Jo Clark. But she bounced back with consecutive wins in her home country of Australia – a submission of Lisa Ellis in 2015 and a decision over Seo Hee Hamm in 2016.

Those wins earned her a step up in competition. But against Paige VanZant in the UFC on FOX 21 co-main event, she was caught with a head kick early in the second round. And against Tecia Torres at UFC Fight Night 104 in February, she missed the strawweight limit at weigh-ins, then lost a decision on fight night.

Meanwhile, Clark had been preparing for a Dec. 8 bout with Vanessa Porto at Invicta FC 26. She saw live action most recently in August, taking a split-decision win over Carina Damm at Titan FC 45. Prior to the win, “Jessy Jess” had dropped back-to-back decisions to Sarah Kaufman and Pam Sorenson.

With the change, UFC Fight Night 121 now includes:

MAIN CARD (FS1, 10 p.m. ET)

• Fabricio Werdum vs. Marcin Tybura
• Jessica-Rose Clark vs. Bec Rawlings
• Tim Means vs. Belal Muhammad
• Daniel Kelly vs. Elias Theodorou
• Alex Volkanovski vs. opponent TBA

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Ryan Benoit vs. Ashkan Mokhtarian
• Will Brooks vs. Nik Lentz
• Anthony Hamilton vs. Adam Wieczorek
• Damien Brown vs. Frank Camacho

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET )

• Alex Chambers vs. Nadia Kassem
• Jenel Lausa vs. Eric Shelton
• Jake Matthews vs. Bojan Velickovic
• Rashad Coulter vs. Tai Tuivasa

Fore more on UFC Fight Night 121, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.