Valentina Shevchenko has an enormous battle of her personal scheduled for later this month, however the flyweight queen additionally lately took time to handle latest feedback from Kayla Harrison. Shevchenko will defend his 125-pound title towards former strawweight titleholder Zhang Weili, who vacated the belt for an opportunity to change into UFC two-division champion. This superfight will happen within the co-main occasion of UFC 322 on November fifteenth.
Weili has an opportunity to affix the uncommon environment of two-division champions in UFC historical past, whereas Shevchenko may punch his ticket to an opportunity with the identical legacy transfer if he wins subsequent week at Madison Sq. Backyard. Harrison will subsequent face Amanda Nunes at an undisclosed date and mentioned she can be excited about dealing with somebody like Shevchenko on the White Home card in the summertime of 2026.
Speak to Mike Vaughn MMA JunkieThe Bulletin addressed latest feedback by the UFC bantamweight champion, as instructed by Shevchenko.
“Kayla is an excellent fighter and really bodily robust, so it is positively going to be a fantastic battle. However I am not simply fascinated by my battle. You understand, I am at all times targeted on the problem in entrance of me. My problem is UFC 322. As soon as the battle is over, we are able to come again to this query.”
Valentina Shevchenko, her pre-bantamweight historical past, and the Amanda Nunes issue
Valentina Shevchenko has carved out a path for herself as top-of-the-line feminine MMA fighters at flyweight, however she’s additionally had spectacular performances at bantamweight. She had two thrilling matches with Amanda Nunes, each of which ended with Nunes defeating Shevchenko, however many thought the rematch would simply go to Shevchenko on the scorecards.
Though Shevchenko would transfer all the way down to flyweight for the follow-up bout with Nunes, there was little discuss of a cross-division superfight between the 2 champions. It seems that Shevchenko nonetheless has some ideas about his trilogy relationship with Nunes, as Shevchenko mentioned (through MMA Junkie),
“For a very long time,[Nunez]was the one motive I went again to 135. It was simply the identify and the unfinished enterprise with Amanda. When she retired, I misplaced curiosity in it. And now let’s have a look at. The rumors are that she’s not retiring, however let’s have a look at if that is true.”
