- Valentina Shevchenko has explained the reason behind her extended layoff
- The UFC women’s flyweight champion is optimistic about challenging the bantamweight champion
Valentina Shevchenko has been one of the most active fighters on the current UFC roster. However, it took her half a year before she finally makes her first octagon appearance this year, having been slated for a title fight against Taila Santos at UFC 275 next month.
Ahead of her highly-anticipated UFC return, the reigning UFC women’s flyweight champion decided to address her unusually prolonged layoff.
Valentina Shevchenko
Nothing out of the ordinary
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Shevchenko explained that thought it took her a little while before she finally got booked for a fight, there’s nothing to be worried about as it was only due to injuries and a little bit of extended traveling.
“It was a little injury that I had in my foot after the last fight, and it required four weeks no training, no bothering [of the] foot,” the champ revealed. “But it’s been fine, it’s healed all the way up. And then we had travel to Kyrgyzstan. For four months we were visiting home. It’s definitely a little delay this time. Then, when I was ready, it was in February. I reached out to UFC and said, ‘I am ready now.’ This (June 11) was the date I was offered.”
Shevchenko is eyeing for the bantamweight belt
Having copped six successful title defenses to her name, Shevchenko is already widely regarded by many as the best woman flyweight fighter in the world. However, “Bullet” previously said that the 125-pound division is not the ceiling and “there’s a chance” that a bantamweight title bout against either Julianna Pena or Amanda Nunes will be “next.”
To date, Shevchenko has gone unbeaten in eight consecutive fights under the UFC banner. It remains to be seen whether the long layoff will affect her performance or not.
