“It is inevitable” Valentina Shevchenko hints at a future move to Bantamweight after UFC 275
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The three women's champions have all faced each other at some point in their careers
Valentina Shevchenko and Amanda Nunes have shared the octagon for a combined 40 minutes. Both these outings have ended in Nunes receiving the nod from the judges and going up 2-0 against Shevchenko, however, any fight fans argue that the second bout could have gone either way with a sound majority supporting Valentina’s claim to victory. Their fight at UFC 215, which was for the bantamweight title was what led Valentina to finally drop down a division and make Flyweight her permanent home.
Since then both Nunes and Shevchenko have been on historic runs of their own with Shevchenko defending her title 6 times and Amanda going on to defeat Cris Cyborg to win the featherweight championship and becoming the first women’s double champ in UFC history. Nunes however unlike Shevchenko hit an unexpected road bump in that journey against Juliana Pena, when she was outclassed on the feet and submitted by Pena in R2 of their fight at UFC 269.
Valentina Shevchenko doesn’t close the door on former opponents Amanda Nunes and Juliana Pena
On a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Shevchenko who has been on a tour of her home country Kyrgystan, returned to make one of her few media appearances since UFC 266 where she was asked about the loss of her former rival affected her, to which Shevchenko replied saying that she was unfazed and that the loss had “absolutely nothing” to do with her. Helwani then asked if the upside for Valentina has been that she’s longer being asked about a trilogy bout against Nunes since she lost. “I think it’s just on standby till July when they have their rematch,” Shevchenko replied with a small chuckle slightly hinting at her belief that Nunes will reclaim her title.
When asked if she believes the call for a trilogy will be back after July,Valentina Shevchenko with a smile replied, “I think so because it is inevitable.” however she also suggested that it could be Juliana Pena who she faced instead in her return to Bantamweight. While giving her predictions for the rematch Valentina said it all depends on the mental state the two would be in and that no matter who wins there’s always a chance she will challenge for the title, she said, “The bigger fight the better“
Shevchenko has previously beaten Juliana Pena via submission and also expressed her interest in fighting Meisha Tate, as she returns to 125.
Also Read: Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes set to run it back at UFC 277 on July 30 in Dallas
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Jerin Mathew
(713 Articles Published)