The two fighters most closely chasing Ronda Rousey and bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes will meet in Denver when Julianna Pena matches up against Valentina Shevchenko in the main event at UFC on Fox at the Pepsi Center on Jan. 28, organizers said Tuesday.
The nationally televised card will mark the for the first time since 2012 when Colorado native Benson Henderson defeated Frankie Edgar by a controversial split decision at UFC 150.
The Pena-Shevchenko main event will be the first major-card women’s matchup in Denver.
Shevchenko (13-2), a Kyrgyzstani Muay Thai specialist who now fights out of Lima, Peru, rocketed up the bantamweight rankings in July when she defeated Albuquerque’s Holly Holm by five-round unanimous decision in Chicago. It was a rebound victory for Shevchenko, after she lost a unanimous decision to Nunes, the current champion in the division, by unanimous decision at UFC 196 in Las Vegas. It is Shevchenko’s only UFC loss.
Shevchenko is now the No. 2-ranked bantamweight, behind the top contender, Rousey. Denver’s Cat Zingano is No. 6.
Pena (9-2) is ranked No. 3 after her unanimous decision victory over Zingano at UFC 200 in Las Vegas in July. Pena, who lost the first round to Zingano, had to rally over the final two.
“I’m just hitting my prime,” Pena said after the victory. “Try me right now, bring it on, the world is mine. Everybody who’s been put in front of me I’ve beaten. So I don’t see anything else but the title.”
Pena, who fights out of Spokane, Washington, has won four fights in a row since joining UFC.
Also on the Denver card: Denver’s Nate Marquardt, , will take on Milwaukee’s Sam Alvey in a middleweight bout. It will be Marquardt’s first UFC fight in his hometown.
Jason Gonzalez will face J.C. Cottrell in a lightweight bout, and Hector Lombard will take on Brad Tavares in a middleweight match.
The UFC will announce more fights as they’re stitched together in the coming weeks.
