Shevchenko to defend title against Andrade at UFC 261

Valentina Shevchenko USA TODAY via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Valentina Shevchenko to defend flyweight title against Jessica Andrade at UFC 261

By Zac Wassink | Last updated 2/24/21

The No. 2-ranked pound-for-pound women's competitor in the UFC will soon be back in action.

UFC president Dana White told ESPN's Brett Okamoto on Wednesday that flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko (20-3-0) will defend her title versus Jessica Andrade (21-8-0) at UFC 261 on April 24.

Shevchenko defeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk in December 2018 to win the vacant championship and has since notched four successful title defenses and become one of the most popular athletes in the promotion in the process. While "Bullet" previously suffered two losses to two-division champion Amanda Nunes during their UFC tenures, some have wondered if Shevchenko is now the better all-around fighter.

Shevchenko, 32, earned a unanimous and relatively easy decision win over Jennifer Maia in November.

Andrade, meanwhile, is a former strawweight champion who was unable to successfully defend that title once and who then fell to Rose Namajunas in July. The 29-year-old currently ranked No. 1 in the flyweight division bounced back in October with a first-round stoppage of Katlyn Chookagian.

Brent Brookhouse of CBS Sports wrote that the UFC 261 pay-per-view will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

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