A women’s flyweight title fight between Valentina Shevchenko and Jessica Eye has been made official for UFC 238 on June 8th in Chicago.
The 31-year-old Shevchenko won the vacant 125lb title with a unanimous decision victory over former strawweight queen Joanna Jedrzeczjyk back in December.
‘Bullet’ had moved down to the division in her previous fight after an unsuccessful attempt to seize the bantamweight title from Amanda Nunes in 2017, and had quickly been installed as the favorite to win the belt after a comfortable debut win over Priscila Cachoeira.
Now for her first title defense she’ll go up against the 32-year-old Eye, who struggled to find her feet in the UFC initially, winning just once in seven Octagon outings.
With that in mind it’s somewhat surprising that she was kept on the roster, but that proved to be a smart decision in the long run as after taking more than a year out, Eye returned and found new life by moving down to flyweight, where she’s since compiled a three-fight winning streak over Kalindra Faria, Jessica-Rose Clark and kaitlyn Chookagian.
Shevchenko Vs Eye won’t headline the UFC 238 event, but is likely to serve as the co-main event above other recently announced bouts like Tatiana Suarez Vs Nina Ansaroff and Joanne Calderwood Vs Katyln Chookagian.
