Valentina Shevchenko’s Title Fight With Joanne Calderwood No Longer Happening At UFC 251

Valentina shevchenko’s next flyweight title defense against Joanne Calderwood has been pushed back from UFC 251, which was set to take place on June 6th in Perth, Australia.

However, according to Calderwood the ongoing coronavirus pandemic might not be the real reason for the switch.

“We got word last week that it’s going to get pushed back,” Calderwood told the Eurobash podcast.

“Not because of this whole thing, but something on her end. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say that, but we know for sure that it’s not going to be on June 6. I don’t know, I’m not sure what happened or what’s what, but it’s been pushed back. It could be a blessing in disguise.”

If the fight had gone ahead it would then it would have taken a toll on Calderwood to travel all the way to Australia, so in that sense at least she is now content with the fact it might take place somewhere closer to home if and when it does get rescheduled.

“We were planning to go two weeks before and I think it’s 24 hours flying time, so you’re talking two days of travel, but I love Australia so I wasn’t going to complain about that.

“It’s a great country and I know that there are a lot of U.K. and Scottish people over there, so I’m just hoping now it will be in the U.S. and it will be closer for everyone to meet in the middle.”

Ross Cole
Ross launched MMA Insight (previously FightOfTheNight.com) in 2009 as a way to channel his passion for the sport of mixed martial arts. He's since penned countless news stories and live fight reports along with dozens of feature articles as the lead writer for the site, reaching millions of fans in the process.