We just watched the UFC men’s flyweight title defended by Henry Cejudo with his TKO win over TJ Dillashaw over this past weekend at UFC on ESPN+ 1, and now it loooks like the women’s flyweight title is going to be defended shortly, as well.
Based on UFC president Dana White, who talked to reporters following the UFC’s debut event on ESPN at Brooklyn, New York, the world’s top MMA organization is set to provide Jessica Eye another title shot 125lbs. She will take on UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko for the title later this season, though White didn’t state when the belt could be defended. With the UFC running three or four cards per month until June, the promotion had a lot of holes to match and Shevchenko vs. Eye makes sense as a principal event for a Fight Night card ESPN+, or maybe even as a co-main occasion for a pay-per-view.
White told reporters concerning Eye getting another title shot after someone asked him when Joanne Calderwood — who predicted Eye out after her decision win over Ariane Lipski — was in line to fight for the name. There were rumors Eye was likely to be next for Shevchenko as they both fought on the same UFC 231 card, and now we understand that’s really true.
Eye (14-6, 1 NC) has rescued her career by making the move down to flyweight. After struggling with a 1-5, 1 NC record for a bantamweight, Eye is now 3-0 in 125lbs. She’s conquered Kalindra Faria, Jessica-Rose Clark and Katlyn Chookagian in her last three outings in order to acquire the title shot in the UFC’s newest division. The fact she has gone the distance in nine of her 10 UFC fights is concerning going up against a finisher such as Shevchenko who probably has to be stopped in order to beat, but Eye has definitely looked enhanced at flyweight along with her getting another title shot is logical.
Shevchenko (16-3) had a 4-2 record for a bantamweight from the UFC, but her two losses came against champion Amanda Nunes and she had to make a move down in weight in order to find another title shot. Moving down to 125lbs has been demonstrated to be a fantastic move for her as she ruined Priscila Cachoeira in her UFC flyweight introduction to find a title shot, then beat Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231 to maintain the vacant belt. Outside of the Nunes fights, Shevchenko has looked unstoppable in the Octagon, and it is hard to see anybody at 125lbs giving her much of a fight when she is so far beyond everyone else in the branch as far as ability goes.
Clearly this struggle is not 100 percent official yet, but it appears likely to be officially announced shortly, and once it does the oddsmakers shouldn’t have much trouble lining the fight. I’m fully expecting Shevchenko for a massive favorite yet again, opening at least around -500 and being steamed even higher. Shevchenko always gets a tremendous amount of support from bettors while Eye traditionally doesnt get much of any, so this isn’t a hard struggle to line. As good as Eye has looked in her latest couple of fights since falling down from bantamweight, it is difficult to see that her being the boxer to take Shevchenko’s belt.
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