We just watched the UFC men’s flyweight title defended by Henry Cejudo with his TKO win over TJ Dillashaw over last weekend at UFC on ESPN+ 1, and now it loooks as the women’s flyweight name is going to be defended shortly, as well.
According to UFC president Dana White, who talked to reporters following the UFC’s introduction event on ESPN in Brooklyn, New York, the world’s top MMA organization is set to give Jessica Eye another title shot at 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. Together with the UFC running three or four cards per month up until June, the advertising had a lot of holes to match and Shevchenko vs. Eye makes sense as a main event for a Fight Night card ESPN+, or maybe even as a co-main event to get a pay-per-view.
White told reporters about 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 title. There were rumors Eye was going to be following for Shevchenko since they fought on precisely the exact same UFC 231 card, and we know that is really true.
Eye (14-6, 1 NC) has saved her career by making the movement down to flyweight. After struggling with a 1-5, 1 NC album as a bantamweight, Eye is currently 3-0 at 125lbs. She’s conquered Kalindra Faria, Jessica-Rose Clark and Katlyn Chookagian in her last three outings so as to acquire the title shot in the UFC’s new division. The fact she’s gone the distance in nine of her 10 UFC fights is about going up from a finisher like Shevchenko who probably has to be halted so as to beat, but Eye has definitely looked enhanced at flyweight along with her getting the next title shot makes sense.
Shevchenko (16-3) had a 4-2 record for a bantamweight from the UFC, but her two losses came against winner Amanda Nunes and she needed to make a go down in weight in order to get another title shot. Moving down to 125lbs has proven to be a great move for her since she destroyed Priscila Cachoeira in her UFC flyweight introduction to find a title shot, then beat Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231 to claim the vacant belt. Outside of the Nunes struggles, Shevchenko has appeared unstoppable in the Octagon, and it’s difficult to see anyone at 125lbs giving her much of a fight when she’s so far beyond everybody in the branch so far as skill goes.
Clearly this struggle is not 100 percent official yet, but it seems likely to be officially announced shortly, and once it does the oddsmakers shouldn’t have a lot of trouble lining the struggle. I’m fully expecting Shevchenko to be a huge favorite yet again, opening at least around -500 and being steamed even greater. Shevchenko always receives a tremendous amount of support from bettors while Eye traditionally doesnt get much of any, so this is not a hard struggle to line. As great as Eye has appeared in her latest few fights since dropping down from bantamweight, it’s difficult to see that her being the boxer to shoot Shevchenko’s belt.
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