Vacant UFC women's flyweight title fight signed for Toronto's UFC 231
Nearly a year after the title was officially created, the UFC will have their second-ever women’s flyweight title fight.
On Thursday night, the promotion announced that the vacant title will be decided between former strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk and former women’s bantamweight title challenger Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 231 in Toronto, Canada, on Saturday, December 8th.
It’s unknown whether the fight will be the main event or co-main event as the previously canceled featherweight title fight between Max Holloway and Brian Ortega has been rumored to be the headliner.
Shevchenko was scheduled to face then-champion Nicco Montano earlier this month at UFC 228, but Montano fell ill during her weight cut and couldn’t compete. Plagued by injuries and other setbacks, Montano was stripped of the title she won by defeating Roxanne Modaferri in the TUF finals to crown the first-ever champion in December 2017 without ever actually defending it.
The 31-year-old Jedrzejczyk has yet to compete at flyweight in the UFC having spent nearly all of her Octagon tenure as either strawweight champion or competing for the title. She last fought at 115 pounds for another organization in 2014, and is coming off a July decision win over Tecia Torres.
The 30-year-old Shevchenko made her promotional debut at flyweight with a dominant performance over Priscilla Cachoeira in February. That followed a close split decision loss to bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes in September 2017, her only UFC title fight to date. Before the Cachoeira fight, her last flyweight tilt was in 2006 for another promotion. She did make weight for the canceled Montano fight.
The two have fought in the past, albeit in muay thai fights nearly a decade ago.