UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko wants to make her first title defense as soon as possible, even if that means Jessica Eye isn’t the opponent.
After Shevchenko (16-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) claimed the vacant belt with a dominant win over Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231 in December, she said she wants to be an active champion, which the weight class didn’t have in previous titleholder Nicco Montano.
Eye (14-6 MMA, 4-5 UFC) put herself in position to get the next crack at the belt with a victory over Katlyn Chookagian at the same UFC 231 event where Shevchenko claimed the title. Eye recently suggested booking the fight for UFC 238 on June 8 in Chicago, but Shevchenko’s team isn’t keen on that timeline.
Shevchenko’s manager, Roger Allen, told MMAjunkie on Thursday that the champion is available to fight just weeks from now, and waiting four more months isn’t of particular interest. Because of that, Allen said Shevchenko is open to accepting another opponent before Eye.
Allen also said the UFC tried to make the Eye fight once at UFC on ESPN+ 3 next week in Prague, but Eye declined because of an issue with her teeth that she discussed on a recent episode of MMAjunkie Radio.
Eye’s availability before June is unknown, especially with her recent social media posts indicating she is dealing with some personal turmoil.
Shevchenko, meanwhile, wants to keep a consistent fight schedule and live up to the words she expressed immediately after claiming the 125-pound strap just over two months ago.
“This is what I want to do: to defend the belt as much as I can,” Shevchenko said in December. “I’m healthy now; I didn’t get any hard injuries. Just go straight to the busy work again. I don’t want to spend the time saying, ‘OK, I’ll keep the belt for a year, doing nothing and just say hello to the media and show the belt.’ No, I want action. For me, that’s more important.”
For more on the upcoming UFC schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
