Valentina Shevchenko is not only out of a proposed flyweight title defense against Natalia Silva at UFC 332 on October 3rd, but she’s also had to vacate the belt, and now we know the specifics regarding the injury that’s led to that decision.
“We were supposed to fight on October 3 against Natália Silva, but due to an injury to the ligaments in the shoulder and back, we decided not to push things and postpone the fight,” Shevchenko’s coach Pavel Fedotov told Ushatayka.
“Given that the recovery will take a long time, we’ve made the decision to temporarily vacate the belt, and once she recovers, she will fight for it again.”
The 38-year-old Shevchenko has been back to her dominant best over the past couple of years since reclaiming the flyweight title, earning convincing unanimous decision victories over Alexa Grasso, Manon Fiorot and most recently Zhang Weili back in November of last year.
With Shevchenko out of action, her originally intended opponent Natalia Silva will now fight Wang Cong for the vacant 125lb title in the main event of UFC 332 next month.
Given the length of time Shevchenko is expected to be out for it’s highly likely that whoever wins will have to make at least one title defense before ‘Bullet’ is able to return and attempt to win back the belt.
