Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweight queen, Valentina Shevchenko, will rematch former Bantamweight title challenger, Liz Carmouche, this Saturday (August 10, 2019) at UFC Fight Night 156 from inside Antel Arena in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Shevchenko appears to be untouchable at 125 lbs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk has proven her most formidable challenger yet, but even then the former champion never came particularly close to victory. Outside of Jedrzejczyk, Shevchenko has brutally stopped both of her fights at 125 pounds. As such, UFC is doing its damnedest to generate contenders. Carmouche has a fair argument: an old, controversial win opposite Shevchenko and a decent win streak. She’ll still enter as a massive underdog, but she’s likely a better challenger than Jessica Eye.
Let’s take a closer look at Shevchenko’s skill set:
Striking
Shevchenko is a multiple-time K-1 and Muay Thai champion, holding a professional record of 58-2 in kickboxing. She’s also won a pair of professional boxing matches, and has a massive list of ranks and accomplishments on Wikipedia for those interested. “Bullet” has been training martial arts and competition since childhood, which explains her composure, skill, and accolades.
Working out of the Southpaw stance, Shevchenko is one of the most pure counter strikers in the sport. Shevchenko stays very light on her feet, ready to counter, and waits for her opponent to move.
As she proved opposite Holly Holm and in the Nunes rematch, Shevchenko will wait … and wait … and wait if need be.
Since moving down to Flyweight, Shevchenko has taken a bit more initiative (GIF). She’s not jumping forward with combinations, but Shevchenko will stick her opponent with a quick jab. Her kicks are very effective at distance as well, a safe way for Shevchenko to do real damage. Against Jessica Eye, a few ripped body kicks and a nice angle change were all it required for the head kick to find a home (GIF).
Once her opponent moves forward, Shevchenko is in her wheelhouse. Often, she’ll take advantage of her light footwork and skip backward, just out of her opponent’s range. At this point, she’ll fire off her favored check right hook, her go-to counter punch. While throwing the right hook, Shevchenko can also angle off and set herself up for a hard body kick.
The check hook is a near constant weapon for the kickboxer.
Shevchenko is very skilled at countering kicks as well. If her opponent throws a kick to the body or head without setup — which isn’t uncommon if her opponent is fighting Orthodox — Shevchenko will spring forward and fire off either a left cross or her usual counter hook. Either way, it’s an effective tactic, as her opponent is not in position to absorb or counter a punch. Opposite Holm — who maintained more distance — Shevchenko instead countered with low kicks, blocking or checking her foes kick before returning with one of her own.
Additionally, one of the most unique traits I’ve seen in Shevchenko is her habit of countering outside low kicks — again, a common tactic for an Orthodox fighter taking on a Southpaw — with spins. Against Sarah Kaufman, Shevchenko utilized both spinning kicks and spinning punches to punish her opponent’s quick low kick attempts (GIF).
As a counter puncher, Shevchenko is quite hard to hit cleanly. Part of that is due to her excellent habit of waiting for her opponent to engage before smothering their attempted offense in the clinch. Ducking down, Shevchenko will step towards her foe and look to grab the head and an underhook. Similarly, when she relies on her check hook, Shevchenko does well to get her head off the center line.
Once in the clinch, Shevchenko is a very effective striker. She does an excellent job of using head position to turn her opponent and force her into the fence. Once there, Shevchenko will attack with hard elbows and knees. It’s a really strong area for “Bullet,” as she breaks her opponent down quickly from in-close.
Shevchenko’s kickboxing is a picture of efficiency. There is little wasted movement or complicated setups. Shevchenko simply manages distance so perfectly that her opponents are rarely able to land hard shots. They’re much more likely to run into her check hook, clinch, or left kick when they try.
Wrestling
A Judo black belt, Shevchenko has really proven her wrestling skill in the last couple years. She held her own with the larger woman of Bantamweight, but she’s simply dominating the clinch at 125 pounds.
First and foremost, Shevchenko’s excellent timing from decades of fighting as a counter striker has proven a wonderful asset for setting up takedowns. Very often, Shevchenko times her entry on the hips perfectly and is able to secure a tight body lock. From that position, it’s easy to overpower her foe to the mat.
In another example of masterful timing, Shevchenko twice swept a larger woman to the mat in precisely the same fashion opposite Julianna Pena. As Pena looked to force Shevchenko into the fence and land knees, “Bullet” waited for her opportunity. As Pena lifted a leg to knee, Shevchenko simultaneously grabbed that leg and swept out the base foot (GIF).
When she first secures the clinch, Shevchenko will usually attempt to finish the body lock or sweep out the foot. Often, her opponent will push her hips back, which can create an opening for the both the inside trip and headlock throw (GIF). If one fails, Shevchenko can quickly transition to the other.
At 125 pounds, Shevchenko’s strength and physicality advantage over much of the division is particularly clear in the clinch. She tossed Jedrzejczyk to the mat on numerous occasions with little difficulty, demonstrating her knowledge of tie-ups and upper body control before landing a trip of some kind (GIF).
Defensive wrestling is no longer a weakness for Shevchenko. She’s learned to do a much better job of hiding her headlock throws, which means they are more difficult to counter (which is how Nunes took her down briefly in the rematch). Otherwise, Shevchenko’s precise range control makes stopping the shot early an easy task, after which Shevchenko will often punish her foe with hard knees and elbows.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Shevchenko’s bottom game was also something of a liability in her early UFC career, but she’s quickly developed that aspect of her game as well. Julianna Pena is a very solid grappler, one who tends to dominate fights from top position with her strength and grit. However, Shevchenko was patient, capitalizing on her opponent’s focus on ground striking to isolate an arm and pull it across her waist. Once Nunes’ arm was across her body, it was in perfect position for Shevchenko to swivel and attack the arm bar. It was textbook, and Shevchenko’s ability to maintain the position and pressure throughout the roll was impressive as well (GIF).
At Flyweight, Shevchenko has been more able to control her foes. As a result, she’s shown more offense. Against both Jedrzejczyk and Eye, for example, Shevchenko was able to trap an arm on the mat and secure the crucifix position from top side control. Both woman ate a few shots from bottom, but Shevchenko was also able to threaten Eye with a kimura before the round ended.
Against Cachoeira, the rear naked choke was more of a mercy hold than anything else. Shevchenko had already thoroughly pulverized her outmatched foe to the point that a stoppage seemed imminent, but Cachoeira ultimately turned her back and gave up the choke instead.
Conclusion
Shevchenko’s fight style — that of ultimate efficiency — is divisive among fans, but her skill really cannot be questioned. If she dispatches another contender with apparent ease, it may be time to consider a super fight for “Bullet” next, as she currently seems far ahead of her peers.
Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.