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The UFC’s flyweight champions will be front and center for an upcoming November pay-per-view.
MMA Fighting confirmed with sources that men’s flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo’s first flyweight title defense will be against former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, while women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko defends against Jennifer Maia at UFC 255 on Nov. 21 at a location to be announced.
ESPN was first to report the matchups.
Figueiredo (19-1) captured a vacant flyweight title in July, defeating Joseph Benavidez by first-round submission. It was the second straight meeting between the two as Figueiredo also defeated Benavidez by TKO in February, but was ineligible to win the vacant title then due to missing weight for that bout.
For Garbrandt (12-3), this will be his first championship fight since losing a rematch to T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 227 in August 2018. That was the second of three straight losses for Garbrandt, who made a successful comeback in 2020 with a second-round KO of Raphael Assuncao at UFC 250 this past June.
This will be Garbrandt’s first UFC fight at 125 pounds.
Shevchenko (19-3) seeks the fourth consecutive successful defense of her flyweight championship. In her most recent outing at UFC 247, she defeated Katlyn Chookagian by third-round TKO. Her other title fight wins have come against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Jessica Eye, and Liz Carmouche. “Bullet” is unbeaten since dropping down to 125 pounds in February 2018.
A former Invicta FC flyweight champion, Maia (18-6-1) is just 3-2 since joining the UFC, but she took the No. 1 contender’s spot by defeating Joanne Calderwood via first-round submission this past Saturday.
This article first appeared at MMA Fighting – All Posts
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