Valentina Shevchenko Believes ‘No One Can Blame’ Joanne Calderwood For Taking Jennifer Maia Fight

Valentina Shevchenko believes no one can blame Joanne Calderwood for stepping up on short notice to fight Jennifer Maia.

Calderwood was expected to fight Shevchenko later this year but the champion had an injury which made Calderwood decide to take the short notice fight. Unfortunately for her, it did not go her way as she lost by first-round submission.

“It’s hard to understand someone’s decision. You never know,” Shevchenko said to MMAFighting. “Probably she was like she needed this fight, she needed to be active. No one can judge her for this because this is what I feel for myself. I need to be active. I want to fight.

“Of course, it’s something she wanted to do so it was something she wanted to do. No one can blame her. She didn’t know, she expected that she was going to win the fight, get the money and have another fight in November.”

Although Joanne Calderwood lost the title shot, Valentina Shevchenko believes they may meet in the future. For now, however, her focus is on Jennifer Maia.

“Now I have another opponent for my fight, Jennifer Maia, and I’m good with that,” Shevchenko said. “For me, it doesn’t really matter who is going to be in front of me.

“I’m going to be prepared the best way I can. But what I want, my opponent is going to be a good one, the best one and they fight with the best version of themselves.”

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