Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Just a few weeks after earning her third straight Flyweight title defense by defeating Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 247 in Houston, Texas (recap), Valentina Shevchenko already has her next challenge lined up.
According to ESPN’s Brett Okamato, “Bullet” will defend her title against Joanne Calderwood at the upcoming UFC 251 pay-per-view (PPV) event on June 6. Winner of three of her last four, “JoJo” was last seen taking out Andrea Lee at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi last November. Her lone loss during that span came against the aforementioned Katlyn Chookagian.
Since making her UFC debut in 2014, Calderwood has amassed a 6-4 record inside the Octagon after starting off her mixed martial arts (MMA) career 8-0. This will be her first attempt at capturing UFC gold.
Shevchenko, meanwhile, has been an absolute “monster” at 125 pounds, winning five in a row including capturing the title by defeating Joanna Jedrzejczyk in 2018. Three dominant wins later, and “Bullet” found herself near the top of the women’s pound-for-pound rankings.
By the time fight night rolls around, it will mark Shevchenko’s fourth title defense in the span of 12 months.
No other bouts have been confirmed for the PPV event — which is targeted to go down in Australia — so keep it locked in to MMAmania.com as more fight announcements become official.