Shevchenko: Pena is good but I’m a master and Nunes is next

UFC women’s bantamweight Valentina Shevchenko began fighting in her native Kyrgyzstan in 2003 and went 6-0 by 2006, winning the last four by submission, including an Ezekiel choke. However, there were not enough opportunities in MMA, so she turned to kickboxing and Muay Thai, going a reported 58-2-1 between 2008 and 2015, including three wins over Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

After taking a break from MMA for four and a half years, Bullet began fighting again late in 2010, winning four in a row after losing to Liz Carmouche in her first fight back. Then she signed with the UFC, narrowly winning her league debut vs. Sarah Kaufman. Next fight was Amanda Nunes.

Nunes won the first two rounds, but Shevchenko surged in the third. There was widespread speculation that she would have taken a five round fight, but of course, it wasn’t a title fight. There is a tradition in Muay Thai, fueled in part by the gambling that sustains the sport in its home nation, of using the first round as a feeling out period, before turning it on in the second round. In a three-round fight, that is nuts, but old habits can linger.

Shevchenko bounced back from the loss by decisioning Holly Holm, and then Saturday night earned a title shot by tapping the submission specialist Julianna Pena.

She’s good fighter, said Shevchenko at the post-fight press conference, as transcribed byMarc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. She’s wild. But I’m a master.

Like I said before, I’m martial artist. I’m not only striker like people said. I’m a complete fighter — an MMA fighter.

Shevchenko and Nunes engaged in some charming ESL trash talk in the Octagon immediately post fight, with each predicting a different outcome than the first fight. Shevchenko said she would win, and Nunes promised a finish.

https://twitter.com/ufc/status/825539143727865856

“>January 29, 2017

I know this will be a totally different fight with a totally different result, said Shevchenko at the press conference. How I said before, Amanda won not because she was stronger than me, it was because maybe I gave her a little bit of a reason to take this victory. I know for sure I was training hard. Every fight makes me much stronger and much stronger.

So far, Shevchenko is right.