Valentina Shevchenko vs. Julianna Peña on Saturday at UFC on FOX 23 was supposed to be a classic striker vs. grappler match up. No one told Bullet though, and she ended up finishing the fight via an armbar, her first submission win in eleven years. During a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Shevchenko said she knew the fight was over before the tap, because she felt the elbow popping.
As an aside, the commentary below is an amusing example of the poor timing that inevitably can happen during color commentary.
“[Shevchenko] has not attempted to get up at all,” explained Jon Anik, as Bullet does the first set up from Guard taught to white belts, and is swinging her leg over Peña’s head.
“Looks like she is conceding the round to Peña,” he continued, as the armbar sinks tight …
WOW! @BulletValentina pulls out an impressive armbar victory in 2nd round to defeat the @VenezeulanVixen. #UFCDenver https://t.co/3b6O6enJ7o
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) January 29, 2017
“>@BulletValentina pulls out an impressive armbar victory in 2nd round to defeat the @VenezeulanVixen. #UFCDenverhttps://t.co/3b6O6enJ7o
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX)
WOW! @BulletValentina pulls out an impressive armbar victory in 2nd round to defeat the @VenezeulanVixen. #UFCDenverhttps://t.co/3b6O6enJ7o
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) January 29, 2017
“>January 29, 2017
While the commentator may have been confused, Shevchenko knew exactly what was happening.
When I was on the ground and she started to throw punches, they weren’t hard, they weren’t effective because I was covering everything, and she didn’t hit one strong punch or anything like that, said Shevchenko, as transcribed by Danny Segura for MMA Fighting. But when I tried to go for the submission, got her arm and put my belly down, in that moment, I felt like two or three times a click in her arm, like, ‘crack, crack, crack,’ and then I felt, ‘this is it, I have this armbar. It’s only a matter of time before she taps.’ But then, she started to protect it, so I just put a little bit of pressure and she tapped at that moment.
For every fight, I’m not only thinking about one strategy, my coach Pavel [Fedotov] is always thinking about every possible situation that I will possibly be in during the fight. That’s why we’re training standing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, everything, but I was pretty sure I would take this fight, I would win this, and I was prepared for striking, submissions, everything. Before the fight, everyone asked me, ‘Valentina, you’re a striker, how do you feel about your wrestler opponent?,’ and every time I would say, ‘I’m a martial artist, I’m a complete fighter.’
Next fight for Shevchenko is a title shot vs. current champion Amanda Nunes. It will be a rematch; the two fought at UFC 196 March 5, 2016 with Nunes winning the first two rounds, but losing the third so decisively that many onlookers felt a five round fight would have had a different outcome.
I’m feeling a much better fighter than last time, and of course all this training and fights that I’ve had after [the first fight with Nunes] will help me to have a great fight, said Shevchenko. I’m very excited, and can’t wait ’til it happens.
