Top bantamweight contender Valentina Shevchenko says she’s got good news coming soon

When Kyrgyzstani bantamweight Valentina Shevchenko submitted the streaking Julianna Peña in January of this year, she earned herself a shot at reigning bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes, who she lost a competitive decision to in early 2016. While we have known for some time now that Shevchenko would get the next crack at bantamweight gold, however, the date and location of her opportunity to do so have not yet been made official.

We do, of course, have plenty of reason to believe this title fight will occur at UFC 213 this July 8 in Las Vegas, Nevada. BJPenn.com previously reported that this bout was in the works for the card, while Twitter user Dizz went on record saying this was the case.

Though Shevchenko’s manager has since suggested the bout has not been made official just yet, one of her latest Tweets seems to indicate her next fight will be announced very soon – whether it’s at UFC 213 or not.

It's coming!… #soon #goodnews
Уже скоро!… #хорошиеновости pic.twitter.com/nb2ymGFmj6

— Valentina Shevchenko (@BulletValentina) May 3, 2017

“It’s coming,” Shevchenko said in this Tweet. “#soon #goodnews.”

With her emphatic, armbar defeat of Peña, Shevchenko built on the momentum of a decision defeat of former bantamweight champion Holly Holm. Prior to this defeat of Holm, Shevchenko experienced her aforementioned loss to Nunes.

Nunes, meanwhile, was last seen in the cage in December, when she mauled former champion and MMA megastar Ronda Rousey to a TKO win in less than a minute. Prior to this win, she earned the bantamweight strap with a similarly abrupt destruction of WMMA veteran Miesha Tate. Her next most recent bout before this title win, finally, was her competitive decision defeat of Shevchenko.

Do you think Valentina Shevchenko can avenge her previous loss to Amanda Nunes and win the UFC women’s bantamweight title? Or will history repeat itself with another Nunes win? Make your opinions heard in the comments section.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/3/2017.