Dana White has confirmed that a flyweight title fight between current champion Valentina Shevchenko and Jessica Andrade has been booked for UFC 261 on April 24th at a destination still to be confirmed.
Since moving down to 125lbs in early 2018, Shevchenko has proven to be an unstoppable force, so far compiling a six-fight winning streak, during which she successfully won the title by defeating Joanna Jedrzejczyk and then defended it a further four times against Jessica Eye, Liz Carmouche, Katyln Chookagian and most recently Jennifer Maia.
Andrade figures to be Shevchenko’s toughest opponent since Jedrzejczyk though as like her she’s a former strawweight champion who made an immediate impact in her flyweight debut when she TKO’d former title contender Katlyn Chookagian late in the first round.
Andrade also holds big wins over the likes of Rose Namajunas, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Claudia Gadelha, Tecia Torres and Raquel Pennington to name but a few, so she’ll feel she has a good chance to challenge ‘Bullet’ more than her previous opponents in the weight class.
Shevchenko vs. Andrade is so far the biggest fight announced for the UFC 261 pay-per-view, which will also include Chris Weidman vs. Uriah Hall and Anthony Smith vs. Jimmy Crute, but it’s not clear yet whether it will serve as the main or co-main event of the evening.
