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The women’s flyweight challenger has winning as her top priority because ‘the fans don’t pay my bills.’
UFC 247 is right around the corner on February 8th and just to show you how huge the beginning of 2020 is, we have to say this card headlined by Jon Jones is the least exciting pay-per-view event on the scheduled roster. Jones faces Dominick Reyes, who would be a solid enough contender if the champ was anyone other than “Bones.” As it stands the oddsmakers have that fight at Jones a -515 favorite and Reyes a +355 dog.
The rest of the card is light on star power, and if the UFC was hoping women’s flyweight challenger Katlyn Chookagian was gonna help them hype her fight against Valentina Shevchenko … well, recent comments from her should dissuade that notion.
”I’m not going to go out there … to do something crazy to be entertaining and then lose,” Chookagian said in an interview with Canadian sports network The Score. “It’s like, ‘Oh you know, the fans think I’m entertaining.’ It’s like, ‘Well, the fans don’t pay my bills.’ So if you lose, you don’t get your full paycheck. So for me, that doesn’t really bother me. I think the most important thing is winning.”
Chookagian has amassed a 13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC record off that diligent but less than dramatic fighting philosophy, with all eight of her UFC fights going the distance. She faces the women’s 115 pound champ Shevchenko, whose violent run against Priscilla Cachoeira, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and Jessica Eye was punctuated by a boring by any standard bout against Liz Carmouche.
How does Chookagian see the fight going?
”I see it being a tough decision,” she said. “I think my cardio is definitely gonna be a factor, especially if it goes into the later rounds. I see it either going into a decision with me winning or me winning by submission.”
What do you think, Maniacs? Does Chookagian have what it takes or will Shevchenko put the stamp on her?