UFC 255: Valentina Shevchenko’s domination continues as sisters shine, with Jessica Andrade next up for flyweight champ
- UFC’s flyweight queen has a brief scare but raises her game to dominate Brazilian challenger Jennifer Maia
- Dana White looking to book Shevchenko vs former strawweight champ Jessica Andrade next – ‘she needs an opponent people think can beat her’
There were a few scares for Valentina Shevchenko – and a fleeting thought that she might just be human after all – but once the flyweight queen found space and range she was all over Jennifer Maia at UFC 255 on Saturday night, defending her title via a unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
“I knew that Jennifer won’t be an easy opponent. I have watched her fights, and saw what she is. She’s never giving up. So I knew it would be a good fight for the belt,” said the woman who likes to be known as “Bullet.”
The win made it title defence number four for the Kyrgyzstan-born 32-year-old (20-3) and once again Shevchenko’s incredible ability to spot danger, and to adapt, was there for the world to see.
Maia was brave, and had her moments, but the Brazilian was outthought before she was outfought. Shevchenko threw her normal stand-up routine out the window, taking her opponent down five times, and doing plenty of damage when she did.
The elder Shevchenko sister – Antonina – had earlier scored a TKO win and Valentina revealed their mother Elena had over the past week won a Muay Thai shadow boxing title in the past week.
“She had a push of good energy for myself and for my sister,” said Shevchenko. “It’s [about] woman power in our family. We are very strong girls.”
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Shevchenko wore an early right from Maia but quickly had her opponent on her back and from full mount she basically worked down the clock, in control and looking to land heavy elbows whenever space allowed.
Maia adapted quickly in the second, closing down the space, taking the champ down and taking the round – which was the major surprise on the night.
But from then on in Shevchenko upped the pace, picking Maia apart with rights that had split the Brazilian open by the fourth and had her needing a prayer – and a knockout – to steal the fight heading into the last,
But Shevchenko seemed to know just what was coming, and worked Maia’s body over as she took command in the centre of the Octagon, with a few tasty back kicks thrown in for good measure.
“Every time I am working on both – striking and grappling,” said Shevchenko, who returned to action after knee surgery. “I just prepare my body to react the proper way, when the proper situation comes it will do it by itself because the proper training has been done.”
UFC boss Dana White said in the post-fight press conference the match-up next for Shevchenko would be the number one-ranked former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade (21-8).
“I think Andrade-Shevchenko s is a very fun fight,” he said. “The thing I love about that fight is that Shevchenko is at a place in her career now where she need an op that people think actually has a chance f beating and I think we know Adrade does.”
It seems certain that Shevchenko will – at some stage – look to again be thrown into the fray against Brazilian Amanda Nunes, current UFC bantamweight-featherweight champ-champ and the other name mentioned when debate turns to who’s the best of the best in the women’s side of the game.
Currently Nunes (20-4) holds a 2-0 lifetime record against Shevchenko – the only times the Kyrgyzstani has lost since signing on with the UFC in 2015 – and there’s little doubt that a victory over the 32-year-old Brazilian remains an itch Shevchenko would dearly love to scratch.
“I don’t think I lost the second fight to Amanda,” she said. “I think the third fight is gonna be something big, but it has to be at the right time, right place, and I would like to see it not without fans. With a lot of crowd and energy. I know it’s gonna happen some day. It’s gonna be something huge.”
Since the last of those losses – via a split decision for Nunes’ bantamweight title in September 2017 – Shevchenko has simply gone from strength to strength and she was at her very best against Maia (18-7-1), justifying her position as one of the shortest-priced favourites in the organisation’s history at -1667 before the bell.
A big night out for the Shevchenko sisters was kicked off when the elder of the pair – the 36-year-old Antonina (9-2) – blasted her way past Brazilian Ariane Lipski (13-6), a second-round TKO coming after she took full mount and started raining punches down on her pinned opponent.
It was the first time the sisters had featured on the same cards since the days when they were terrorising the globe’s Muay Thai kick-boxing leagues and the win should be enough to move Antonina up from her current 15th ranking behind her sister in the flyweights.
“I wanted it so much,” Antonina said. “We both had to win tonight and I did my bit. Of course there was pressure – having two sisters on the same card. But it was good pressure. It was already some years since we fought together. This time, it was so united. Just support for each other every day.”
