Challenger Joanne Calderwood revealed on Wednesday that her fight with flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is going to be postponed to hopefully a later date. In the interview with MMA Fighting’s podcast EuroBash, Calderwood revealed that the reason was not due to the coronavirus and that it had something to do with Shevchenko. ESPN’s Ariel Helwani interviewed Shevchenko and she revealed that it’s a leg injury that required surgery.
Shevchenko had the surgery a week and a half ago that she tried to avoid. In the interview, Shevchenko said, “I was hoping [the injury] would heal by itself, but when it started to frustrate me a little bit, doctors advised me to have surgery.” The leg injury happened during her fight against Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 247 on February 8 in Houston, Texas. Shevchenko won the fight in the third round by TKO, successfully defending the flyweight championship for the third time.
Shevchenko is hopeful that she will make a full recovery and be ready to fight in August. When speaking on her recovery, Shevchenko said, “Everything is good. I’m doing my physical therapy.” The fight against Calderwood for the flyweight championship was supposed to take place at UFC 251 on June 6 in Perth, Australia. The UFC has yet to make a statement on the official postponement for the fight or when the fight will be rescheduled.