UFC 255 will be more special than other cards for women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko.
Shevchenko is set to return to action on November 21 when she defends her title against Jennifer Maia in the co-main event of the card.
Her sister Antonina will also be competing on the card when she meets Ariane Lipski in women’s flyweight action. That would make it the first time in UFC history that two siblings will be competing on the same card — making UFC 255 a very special occasion for Shevchenko.
“This card is more special than others because for the first time in the history of the UFC, two sisters are going to fight on the same card,” Shevchenko said on the Hablemos MMA podcast. “But it’s not only sisters but also brothers.
“Yes, there has been in the UFC brothers that fight in different weight classes and different events, but on the same event, and same (weight class) there hasn’t been. This would be the first time.”
Of course, the Shevchenko sisters have competed on the same card multiple times before, but that was back in the day during their Muay Thai careers.
And competing on the same card for the first time in the UFC will allow not only for them to rest together, but also their head coach Pavel Fedotov.
“We always do the training camps together anyway, and we train together, helping each other out,” Shevchenko added. “Now having this opportunity to fight on the same event, we’re also going to have the same opportunity to rest together.
“And most importantly, our trainer, master Pavel Fedotov, he’s going to get more of a break because he’s always training Antonina. She fights, and then he has to prepare me, and then I fight and back to Antonina, so yeah. We always have a rest, but he’s always working non stop, so this will be better for him too.”
Shevchenko last competed at UFC 247 in February when she TKO’d Katlyn Chookagian. She will be looking for her fourth title defense against Maia.
What do you think of the Shevchenko sisters competing on the same card?