{"id":377310,"date":"2021-02-24T09:21:59","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T17:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=377310"},"modified":"2021-02-24T09:21:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T17:21:59","slug":"valentina-shevchenko-set-to-defend-flyweight-title-against-jessica-andrade-at-ufc-261","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/valentina-shevchenko-set-to-defend-flyweight-title-against-jessica-andrade-at-ufc-261\/","title":{"rendered":"Valentina Shevchenko set to defend flyweight title against Jessica Andrade at UFC 261"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is set to defend her title against No. 1 contender Jessica Andrade at UFC 261 on April 24.<\/p>\n<p>UFC President Dana White announced this matchup through<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/espnmma\/status\/1364618806069514252\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> ESPN<\/a>, the promotion&#8217;s official broadcast partner.<\/p>\n<p>Valentina Shevchenko, widely considered one of the top female fighters alive today, last fought at UFC 255 in November, when she picked up a lopsided decision win over <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/valentina-shevchenko-releases-statement-after-victory-over-jennifer-maia-at-ufc-255\/\">Jennifer Maia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>With that win, Shevchenko has now defended the UFC flyweight title four times. After winning the vacant belt with a decision defeat of former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk, she defended it with a head-kick knockout of Jessica Eye, a decision win over her former foil Liz Carmouche, and a TKO win over Katlyn Chookagian.<\/p>\n<p>Those wins carried her overall record 20-3 overall, and her UFC mark to 9-2\u2014a particularly impressive run given that her only losses were competitive decisions against Amanda Nunes.<\/p>\n<p>While Shevchenko has been the picture of dominance as the flyweight champion, she&#8217;ll have her work cut out against Andrade, who will undoubtedly be hailed as the champ&#8217;s toughest challenge to date.<\/p>\n<p>Andrade, the former UFC strawweight champion, moved up to flyweight after a razor close decision loss to strawweight No. 1 contender Rose Namajunas. In her first flyweight fight, she usurped the division&#8217;s top contender spot with a devastating, first-round stoppage of the former title challenger Chookagian. That win elevated her overall record 21-8-0.<\/p>\n<p>At present, it looks like this Shevchenko vs. Andrade fight will serve as the UFC 261 main event.<\/p>\n<p>See UFC 261 lineup as it currently stands below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Champion Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jessica Andrade &#8211; for the UFC flyweight title<\/li>\n<li>Chris Weidman vs. Uriah Hall<\/li>\n<li>Anthony Smith vs. Jimmy Crute<\/li>\n<li>Danaa Batgerel vs. Kevin Natividad<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Who are you picking in this newly announced Shevchenko vs. Andrade flyweight title fight? Let us know your prediction for the fight in the comments section!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is set to defend her title against No. 1 contender Jessica Andrade at UFC 261 on April 24. UFC President Dana White announced this matchup through ESPN, the promotion&#8217;s official broadcast partner. Valentina Shevchenko, widely considered one of the top female fighters alive today, last fought at UFC 255 in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":368366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10557,39610,10368],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Valentina Shevchenko set to defend flyweight title against Jessica Andrade at UFC 261 | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dominating UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko will attempt defend her title for the fifth time at UFC 261 this April.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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