UFC 275 fight card primer: Shevchenko vs. Santos

Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos at weigh-ins for UFC 275. | Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images

Get up to date on the co-main event of UFC 275 between Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos.  The co-main event of…


Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos at weigh-ins for UFC 275.
Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos at weigh-ins for UFC 275. | Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images

Get up to date on the co-main event of UFC 275 between Valentina Shevchenko and Taila Santos. 

The co-main event of UFC 275 will feature a women’s flyweight fight between Valentina Shevchenko (22-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) and Taila Santos (19-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC). UFC 275: Teixeira vs. Procházka airs live from Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore this Saturday, June 11th. The main card will start with a fight time of 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT, with the ESPN2/ESPN+ prelims beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT and the early prelims kicking off at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT.

How do these two stack up?

Shevchenko: 34 years old | 5’5” | 67” reach

Santos: 28 years old | 5’6” | 68” reach

What have these two done recently?

Shevchenko: W – Lauren Murphy (TKO) | W – Jéssica Andrade (TKO) | W – Jennifer Maia (DEC)

Santos: W – Joanne Wood (SUB) | W – Roxanne Modafferi (DEC) | W – Gillian Robertson (DEC)

How did these two get here?

Valentina Shevchenko isas close as you can get to a perfect fighter.’ That is what Taila Santos has said before their championship fight on Saturday night, and there is no denying that statement. Since winning the vacant women’s flyweight championship, ‘Bullet’ has successfully fended off challenger after challenger to continue her nearly three-year reign of the division. She recently stopped Lauren Murphy via fourth-round technical knockout for her sixth defense, the most in divisional history. She’ll go for her seventh against a new contender.

Santos also said that ‘nobody is perfect’ and she has a chance to prove that against Shevchenko. The Brazilian has gone 4-1 since joining the UFC after a successful appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series Brazil over three years ago. Santos earned decisions over Molly McCann, Gillian Robertson and Roxanne Modafferi before submitting Joanne Wood via first-round rear-naked choke at UFC Vegas 43 this past November. That win over Wood led to her first title shot. Though heading into the fight with Shevchenko as an underdog, Santos remains confident she can upset the champion and shock the world.

Why should you care?

Shevchenko has been dominant in all of her defenses, but does that warrant a complete write-off of Santos? The Astra Fight Team product has a chance, and UFC president Dana White has warned against underestimating her given how ‘extremely dangerous’ she is. Let’s see if he’s right after Saturday.