EDMONTON, AB - SEPTEMBER 07: Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan holds an open workout session for fans and media at Rogers Place on September 7, 2017 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Valentina Shevchenko on possibly facing Joanna Jedrzejczyk: “Why not?”
At UFC 228, Valentina Shevchenko was finally supposed to be getting her shot at the UFC women’s flyweight title.
However, disaster struck leading up to the week’s fighter weigh ins.
A report had surfaced that the UFC women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano had to be rushed to the hospital, which was later revealed to be due to complications of her weight cut.
As a result of the situation, the title fight was canceled.
The cancelation of the bout was a major blow to not only the division, but more importantly the fight card itself.
Since the sudden turn of events at UFC 228, both Shevchenko and the UFC have moved forward. Could their still be a way for the UFC to still make a UFC women’s flyweight title happen? Yand it will as UFC President Dana White stated that he would pair Shevchenko up against an opponent to be named later.
Maybe say… a major fight between Shevchenko and a familiar foe who just moved up the division.
During an episode of the MMA Hour, host Luke Thomas suggested the possibility of a number one contender bout with former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Shevchenko of course, was adamant to the idea.
“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?”
Though Shevchenko verbally agreed to the possibility of a fight with Jedrzejczyk, she hasn’t officially expressed this to the UFC staff.
Despite White stripping Montano of the UFC women’s flyweight title, he did say the plan is still for Shevchenko to compete for the now vacant championship in the future.
Regardless of who she faces for the vacant title, Shevchenko just hopes her opponent will actually show up to the fight as this was the second championship opportunity that slipped past her 48 hours before she was suppose to compete.
“I don’t know yet because I still didn’t speak with them about names. I don’t know nothing yet about opponents,” Shevchenko said. “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.”
Shevchenko though isn’t shying away from the potential of her and Montano eventually meeting inside the octagon should Montano solve her weight cutting problems and reclaim the number one contender spot. But she did question whether Montano winning the belt so early into her UFC career was too much for her too soon, andexpects it to be longer journey for her now to get back into title contention.
“She has to fight, she has to prove that she’s come back, and really deserve it,” Shevchenko said. “She has to prove it. She has to face the real big names, she has to test herself now.”
