LAS VEGAS – Earlier this month, UFC women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montano announced she’d be ready to return to the octagon on Sept. 8, seemingly putting an end to the drama that surrounded the scheduling of her bout with No. 1 contender Valentina Shevchenko.

“Seemingly” is the operative word here.

After her sister, Antonina, earned a UFC contract with a Dana White’s Contender Series 11 win Tuesday, Shevchenko (15-3 MMA, 4-2 UFC) confirmed that there are talks in place to meet Montano (4-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) when UFC 228 is targeted to take place.

At this point, though, it seems it’ll take more than words to fully convince “Bullet” that the bout is definitely on.

“From her part, it’s more like a verbal agreement,” Shevchenko told reporters, including MMAjunkie, at The Ultimate Fighter Gym in Las Vegas. “But I don’t know. Should I believe in it, or is it just like some play of words? Because before, she was saying that she was ready for July 7. And she said that it will be nice to fight in the International Fight Week. And then, when the UFC came back to her and said, ‘Let’s do it July 28,’ it’s like more time. She said, ‘No, I will do my surgery, whatever, I’m not ready.’

“I hope this time her word will be exactly 100 percent about September 8, fighting in UFC 228. So I hope it will work until the end, before we get our contracts from UFC, both of us will sign it and just finally do what we have to do. We have to fight. Not speak. Not posting tweets about it. Let’s do it, finally. No, we have to fight. We have to prepare and do our job.”

Montano was crowned the UFC’s first women’s 125-pound champion last December, when she beat Roxanne Modafferi to earn “The Ultimate Fighter Season 26” crown. Like Shevchenko said, Montano had indeed talked about targeting a July return, despite an injured foot – <a href=" That, at least, is what Montano <a href=" “You could have taken this fight so many times,” Shevchenko told MMAjunkie before Montano’s most recent post. “And you didn’t. Why? There is a reason why – just say it.”

If it helps appease Shevchenko, it seems Montano is already putting in the <a href=" Shevchenko had a successful run in the upper division; her two losses, in fact, were decisions to Nunes. The most recent, at last September’s UFC 215, was razor-thin, which resulted in split scorecards and some frustration by Shevchenko.

After that, “Bullet” moved down to the UFC’s then-newly created 125-pound division, where her single display to date was the absolute demolition of Priscila Cachoeira.

Despite feeling and performing well against 135-pound competition, Shevchenko says she could feel the difference in size and reach. After waiting so long, she’s now set on staying at flyweight – despite the fact that her newly signed sister is also there.

There is one thing, however, that will be able to lure her back up.

“(I want to) just do exactly what I have to do in my own weight division, in my weight class,” Shevchenko said. “But, also, I want to have my rematch with Amanda because I don’t agree with the result that we had last time. The more I see this fight, and I go with the same opinion. In the future, I definitely will have another opportunity to fight with her. But I don’t see it happening right now. Because my plan is to do all I can at 125.”

To hear from Shevchenko, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC 228, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.