Valentina Shevchenko was already one of the greatest female fighters in the history of women’s MMA. At UFC 322, she beat one of her peers in that group. Convincingly.
In a battle of champions, the UFC flyweight titleholder had no trouble punishing and suppressing former strawweight champ Zhang Weili on her way to a win by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45), a full shutout. It wasn’t the most entertaining fight, especially after a string of three straight early knockouts to open UFC 322’s main card, but it was certainly impressive.
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As the final horn sounded, Shevchenko had nothing else to do but raise her arms and dance.
“This is my life,” Shevchenko said in victory. “Martial arts [are] not only my sport and my career, it’s my lifestyle. It’s who I am — martial artist.”
It was the kind of fight Shevchenko likely wanted. Both women are among the most technically skilled fighters to enter the Octagon, but one thing became unavoidably clear as the fight progressed: One of them was bigger than the other.
Zhang was the more aggressive fighter, but found no paths to negate the size advantage of Shevchenko. All five rounds ended the same way, with Zhang on her back, frantically trying to prevent the champ from ending the fight then and there. Shevchenko landed more blows, landed the bigger blows and won the control time fight by a not-small margin.
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She made some history in the process.
By the time the fight was entering the championship rounds, Shevchenko’s coach was warning her about the dangers of slipping on the Octagon’s canvas. The problem of Zhang had already been figured out.
“I really did my best. I lost,” Zhang said through an interpreter. “I will not stop trying. I’m not going to get tired. I will continue to march forward.”
Zhang declined to say whether she would move back to strawweight after running into the brick wall sitting atop the flyweight division, simply saying she would take a break as she figures out what’s next.
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As for Shevchenko, we’ve reached the point where she is brainstorming her next potential opponent in real time.
“I have a couple of options in the flyweight division. For example, in my previous title defense, Natalia Silva was very successful in her fight,” she said. “At this event, Erin Blanchfield did an amazing job, and also I hear Kayla Harrison is calling me out, so I have a lot of options to think about.”
After seeing what she did to Zhang, those challengers probably have even more to think about.