Unfortunately, Valentina Shevchenko won’t be defending the women’s flyweight championship at UFC 251.
Originally, the 32-year-old was scheduled to take on Joanne Calderwood at the pay-per-view event; however, Shevchenko is being forced to pull out due to an undisclosed injury. Calderwood revealed the news herself on Tuesday in an interview with MMA Fighting, though she never states when the fight could take place; however, she confirms that the flyweight bout won’t happen on June 6.
Since defeating Joanna Jędrzejczyk for the vacant title at UFC 218, the flyweight has been lighting up her opponents inside of the octagon, with her most recent victim being Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 247 back in February. Shevchenko is in the midst of five-fight winning streak.
Calderwood is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Andrea Lee at UFC 242. While the 33-year-old did lose to Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 238, Calderwood has won three out of her last four fights, besting Kalindra Faria and Ariane Lipski.
UFC 251 was set to have two title fights with Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski confirmed for the Featherweight championship. It doesn’t appear that officials will keep Calderwood on the card; however, in the world of MMA, anything can change.