Again, Valentina Shevchenko will have to wait at getting her shot a UFC title. Originally, Shevchenko was set to challenge Nicco Montano for the UFC women’s flyweight title in the co-main event of UFC 228. Instead, Montano was hospitalized for a bad weight-cut and removed from the card.
As a result, the UFC stripped Montano of her title. UFC President Dana White has confirmed Shevchenko will challenge for the vacant strap next. As for who her opponent will be, he said he already has a name in mind. While White has yet to have confirmed the name, early speculation points to Joanna Jedrzejczyk as the leading candidate.
The former 115-pound champion has a history with Shevchenko. “The Bullet” has defeated Jedrzejczyk a few times in Muay Thai competition. When asked about fighting Jedrzejczyk on an appearance on The MMA Hour, Shevchenko said: “Why not?” (via MMA Fighting):
“We have our history with Joanna already in (Muay Thai) and now we have opportunity to start to create our history in MMA, mixed martial arts, under UFC rules,” Shevchenko said. “Why not?
“I don’t know yet because I still didn’t speak with them about names. I don’t know nothing yet about opponents. But for me, it doesn’t matter who, I’m ready for anyone. And I really want to fight with an opponent who wants to fight, who will be able to compete and do everything professional.
“I would be very happy to have more professionals to face me, because in this case I want to be worried about having these problems [as opposed to] to having someone pull out in the last minute.”
What do you think about Shevchenko being open to fighting Jedrzejczyk?
