Valentina Shevchenko refuses to believe that Nicco Montano will show up at their scheduled flyweight title fight at UFC 228
Valentina Shevchenko is currently slated to challenge Nicco Montano for the UFC women’s flyweight title. The fight has been scheduled to co-headline UFC 228, but even with this booking, “Bullet” remains doubtful that her opponent will show up on fight night.
“I hope that Nicco will follow her word and show up in the octagon and fight, because before she’s inside the octagon, I can’t believe she’ll do it,” Shevchenko told reporters in a media scrum on Friday at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas (transcript via MMAjunkie).
“Anything can happen,” she added. “Knowing her, seeing how she was reacting, how she said I’m ready for July 7, and she wanted to fight, but when the UFC came back to her and said let’s do it July 28, she said, ‘I need more time.’”
“You never know what can happen. Before I see her in the octagon, I will not believe she will do everything right.”
Coming off a strong performance last February against Priscila Cachoeira which earned her a Performance of the Night bonus, Shevchenko remains confident about her upcoming fight, which may very well give her a first taste at UFC gold.
“I’m very comfortable in every aspect of the fight,” Shevchenko said. “(My coach) Pavel (Fedotov), he trains me every time and motivates different situations in the fight.”
“It doesn’t matter if I have it in the fight or not, we train it. Even if I face some strange situation, I will know how to react. That’s why I know what I have to do to win the fight.”
UFC 228 is set to take place on September 8th in Dallas, Texas. It will be headlined by the return of welterweight champion Tyron Woodley after more than a year in the sidelines, as he defends his title against Darren Till.