Valentina
Shevchenko is expected to make her next flyweight title defense
against Taila
Santos at UFC 275.
MMAFighting.com was first to report that both Shevchenko and
Santos have agreed to the bout. UFC 275 takes place on June 11 and
is headlined by a light heavyweight championship clash pitting
Glover Teixeira against Jiri Prochazka but does not yet have an
official location. According to the report, Singapore is a top
candidate to host the event.
Currently No. 1 in Sherdog.com’s female pound-for-pound rankings,
Shevchenko has won her last eight Octagon appearances, a streak
that includes six successful title defenses. Most recently,
“Bullet” defeated Lauren
Murphy via fourth-round technical knockout at UFC 266.
Shevchenko’s resume includes victories over the likes of Jessica
Andrade, Jennifer
Maia, Katlyn
Chookagian, Liz
Carmouche, Joanna
Jedrzejczyk, Julianna
Pena, Holly Holm
and Sarah
Kaufman.
Santos, meanwhile, will take a four-bout winning streak into her
matchup with Shevchenko. During that stretch, the Dana White’s
Contender Series alum has bested Molly
McCann, Gillian
Robertson, Roxanne
Modafferi and Joanne Wood.
The 28-year-old Astra Fight Team representative has compiled a 19-1
mark over the course of a professional tenure that began in
2013.