Valentina Shevchenko has explained why she’s no longer holding UFC women’s flyweight gold. The short version is that she wasn’t healthy enough for the date the promotion wanted, and she plans to fight again in 2027.
Ariel Helwani contacted her about the title situation and posted her answer on X on Oct. 12. “It was not an easy decision to make. I care a lot about my division. I want it to be active and the belt to be in the game. I couldn’t be 100% for October, needing more time for proper recovery. I plan to come back in 2027,” Shevchenko told him. Heavy.com also ran the story under a headline describing her as explaining why she gave up the title.
Helwani’s own framing was blunter. He wrote that Shevchenko wasn’t available on the date the UFC needed her, so it took her belt away. He called her the most decorated women’s flyweight champion of all time and one of the most decorated champions in UFC history.
View post on X
The numbers back him up. According to pre-event research from MMA Junkie and UFC statistics producer Michael Carroll, Shevchenko owns 12 wins in UFC women’s flyweight competition, the most in divisional history. Katlyn Cerminara, Natalia Silva and Maycee Barber are tied for second with nine apiece. Shevchenko has also landed 54 takedowns at 125 pounds, more than double the next-best total of 23, and her five stoppage wins are tied for second in the division’s history.
Where the division stands
The updated UFC Meta Rankings list Natalia Silva as women’s flyweight champion, with Shevchenko at No. 1. Alexa Grasso sits second, followed by Erin Blanchfield, Manon Fiorot, Zhang Weili and Jasmine Jasudavicius.
Two of those names meet this Saturday. Blanchfield (14-2) faces Jasudavicius (15-4) at UFC Fight Night 291 on Oct. 17 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. Whoever wins lands in a crowded line that Shevchenko will be rejoining next year.
The Strickland connection
Helwani tied Shevchenko’s situation to middleweight champion Sean Strickland, arguing that if the UFC asks Strickland to pick a date and he says no, the promotion will strip him and book something else without much hesitation. A Yahoo Sports column this week made the same point. It reported that Strickland is unhappy with his pay and appears willing to give up the belt if it gets him to free agency sooner. With pay-per-view gone and events streaming on Paramount+, the column argued, the UFC earns the same whether a champion fights or sits, and it can simply let the next two contenders fight for a vacant title. The writer pointed to Shevchenko as proof of how quickly even a longtime champion gets moved aside. Champions do still earn more. Under the current Promotional Guidelines Compliance structure, champs get $42,000 per fight against $32,000 for challengers.
My take: Shevchenko made the right call. She’s a fighter who has won rounds by out-thinking people over 25 minutes, and walking into a title fight at 80% is how you donate the belt to someone who would never take it from you at full strength. What bugs me is the precedent. The most accomplished 125er the UFC has ever had asked for recovery time and got the same treatment as anyone else who missed a date. She’ll come back in 2027 as the No. 1 contender. Saturday in Edmonton starts deciding who she has to get past first.
