The rough, tough, tattooed ‘JoJo’ faced Lee on the UFC 242 preliminary card in what doubled as a potential opportunity to leapfrog Katlyn Chookagian for a shot at Shevchenko.

As soon as the fight began the fearless Calderwood marched straight across the octagon to engage with Lee. The two former kickboxing world champions contested a cagey first round, in which both seemed content to keep the fight on their feet and rattle off a high volume of straight shots and kicks. 

In the second, ‘KGB’ began to implement her jab and lateral movement to try and work out an opening to get to the British fighter, and the second round played out in much of the same vein, with Lee keeping Calderwood at distance and managing to land two eye-catching spinning elbows. 

After a fairly even contest after two rounds, if ever a fighter showed they were willing to go out and claim the last five minutes of a fight it was Calderwood. Her corner told her to go out and win the round to be sure of victory, and that she did.

Calderwood stalked and walked down Lee to finish the fight with a punch landed advantage of 100 strikes to Lee’s 83, although the American had shaded the first two rounds by volume of punches, the first only by one punch 38-37.

When he judges scores were read, they showed a split decision 28-29, 30-27, 29-28 victory in favor or Calderwood, who referenced the 37-degree heat in her post-fight interview.

“Thank you so much im really really hot right now, I’m grateful for weather and heat but not in a good way. Look at me!” the Scot said, showing a great British sense of humor by pointing to her pasty complexion. “No excuses everyones feeling the same. I really like the heat.”

Calderwood expressed regret at having left the decision up to the judges, but nevertheless deemed her showing a decent one. “I thought it was a good performance I really enjoyed Andrea Lee’s style, she bought a good style to the octagon,” she said.

“This is my third time in octagon this year, I want to stay active...I would like a title fight," she said, referencing Shevchenko.

KGB had managed to garner interest not only through her stunning good looks but through her curious nickname, bestowed upon her by her then-trainer and future husband Donny Aaron, who decided she looked like a ‘Russian spy’.

Unfortunately for Lee, missing her trademark cowboy hat, not even the presence of Russian referee Viacheslav Kiselev could help her against the judges scores.