Valentina Shevchenko has laid waste to every contender vying for her flyweight championship, and she’s once again a massive favorite ahead of her next fight at UFC 275.
As she prepares to face Taila Santos in the co-main event on June 11, Shevchenko current stands as a 7-to-1 favorite to beat her Brazilian challenger. The last time anybody was less than a 5-to-1 underdog against Shevchenko was in 2018, when she faced Joanna Jedrzejczyk in a fight for the then-vacant title at 125 pounds — a fight Shevchenko ultimately won by a lopsided decision.
While the old adage that anything can happen in a fight still holds true, UFC commentator and retired lightweight contender Paul Felder has a hard time believing anybody will beat Shevchenko, especially if she’s competing at 125 pounds.
“She is a level higher than [everybody else],” Felder’s comments on The Fighter. The Writer . It takes many years to fill those gaps. Maybe the titleholder should age or become complacent. It’s not the right time for her.
“She’s one of those women who doesn’t do anything crazy. She doesn’t have some crazy family. She loves to travel. She enjoys tea, and beats up women. She shoots .”
guns because that’s what she likes to do.
Shevchenko dropped only a few rounds since she made the switch to flyweight. Perhaps the most frightening thing about Shevchenko is how many opponents she has decimated, handpicked for their toughest fights. She needed less than two rounds to finish ex-UFC strawweight champion Jessica Andrade, and she also dispatched by TKO Katlyn Chookagian and Lauren Murphy; both of those fighters are still ranked among the best in the world at 125 pounds.
Several new flyweights have emerged that could be Shevchenko’s future rivals, such as Manon Fiorot from France and Casey O’Neill. Felder believes that no one is even close to Shevchenko right now.
“I don’t see her going anywhere either,” Felder said. “Now again, we could be eating our own words when she fights, but if we’re talking [somebody beating Shevchenko] this year, not yet.
“Manon [Fiorot], She’s still not ready, I think. I saw that last fight, I thought she was throwing too many of the same combos over and over again. You do that against Shevchenko and you’re just going to get knocked out. You can’t be as strong as Shevchenko, no matter how good your karate, and she will find out what you have and take you out to throw [that same combination],. That’s .”
.
Lately, Shevchenko has been hinting at a potential return to bantamweight with an opportunity to become a two-division UFC champion against either Julianna Pena or Amanda Nunes.
” I think there are a lot of contenders who, given enough time could be next greatest challenge but this year [nobody beats her],” Felder stated. “She might smoke me, and I’m probably 50 pounds heavier than that woman.”
