Tag: UFC 228

Valentina Shevchenko Addresses Potential Fight With Joanna Jedrzejczyk

Valentina Shevchenko has given her take on this possible fight.

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Valentina Shevchenko addresses a potential fight with former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk as she was unable to compete in her latest fight booking.

It’s been well established that the former women’s bantamweight title contender was supposed to fight Nicco Montano for the UFC women’s flyweight title in the co-main event of UFC 228 but this fight got canceled once it was revealed that Montano was hospitalized for kidney function issues.

Since then, UFC President Dana White has noted in interviews that the promotion is working on finding an opponent for Shevchenko to fight for the vacant title. One name that has been tossed out there is Jedrzejczyk.

Shevchenko stated in an interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show that she would be interested in this fight due to their history.

“We already have our history with Joanna in Muay Thai and we can start our history in MMA. Why not?” said Shevchenko, who beat Jedrzejczyk in all three of their kickboxing bouts. “Why don’t we do this fight? All the fans want to see this fight.

“The division has to move, the division has to fight and the belt has to be in play. The fight for the belt has to happen before the end of the year. I will gladly fight Joanna because she’s a real professional fighter.”

As seen on the main card of the UFC on FOX 30 event at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada that aired on big FOX, the former UFC women’s strawweight champion scored a decision win over Tecia Torres in a women’s strawweight bout.

Time will tell whether the UFC books a fight against Shevchenko and Jedrzejczyk.

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Video: Nick Diaz Not Impressed With Tyron Woodley – Urges UFC To ‘Stop Making B.S. Fights’

Nick Diaz not impressed with Tyron Woodley.

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Former title challenger Nick Diaz wasn’t impressed with Tyron Woodley’s dismantling of rising prospect Darren Till last weekend (Sept 8, 2018) at UFC 228 in Dallas, Texas.

Stockton’s Diaz has weighed in on the main event of UFC 228 and in his opinion, the UFC needs to stop giving Woodley ‘easy’ fights. Woodley did end up taking care of business rather effortlessly against Till, however, at this level, there is no ‘easy’ fight.

Diaz has indicated his plans to return to action in 2019. He was recently cleared of a domestic violence charge and is nearly done serving his questionable suspension for ********* use. Diaz hasn’t competed in the octagon since a 2015 middleweight loss to Anderson Silva. He hasn’t won a fight since 2011.

Watch Nick Diaz weigh in on Tyron Woodley’s easy fights here:

“I missed the whole fight… I’ve never had an easy fight in my life. Fight that kid… I wouldn’t take one. It’s like… stop making bullshit fights with this guy!”

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Jessica Andrade Offered To Fight Valentina Shevchenko At UFC 228

Jessica Andrade volunteered to fight Valentina Shevchenko.

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Before she slept Karolina Kowalkiewicz, Jessica Andrade offered to fight Valentina Shevchenko for the strawweight title. Potentially saving UFC 228.

When the first ever women’s flyweight champion Nicco Montaño was forced out of her title defense against Shevchenko matchmakers had a choice. Scramble for a last minute replacement such as Andrade or scrap the fight altogether.

As it turns out the local athletic commission wouldn’t allow the Brazilian to move up in weight. A curious decision to say the least considering Andrade fought at 135 pounds early in her UFC career.

“I even offered to fight for the belt if they agreed to, but since they had already weighed me and done all the work, I wasn’t allowed by the athletic commission,” Andrade said, “But I’m happy I was able to help the promotion, help the UFC with a great show and excite people.”

As a result of Montaño withdrawing from the fight, UFC President Dana White said the champion would be stripped of her title. And that Shevchenko will be booked in a title match later in the year. As for Andrade, she explained that as long as the fans are happy she is. No doubt her destruction of Kowalkiewicz will keep the masses entertained.

“I think that’s my job, to go in there and excite everyone who’s watching,” Andrade said. “To give my best and knock people out, and that’s what I did tonight.”

Watch Jessica Andrade’s full post-fight press conference here: (courtesy of MMA Fighting)

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Video: Tyron Woodley Believes He Is The Greatest Welterweight Champion in UFC History

Tyron Woodley believes he is the welterweight GOAT.

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Ever since winning the welterweight title Tyron Woodley has said he wants to be remembered as the greatest of all time in his division. The “Chosen One” took one step closer to greatness at UFC 228 as he submitted Darren Till to defend his title.

The welterweight GOAT debate cant take place without Georges St. Pierre. However, GSP has openly stated that at this point in his career he is only interested in “legacy fights”. Woodley has largely downplayed the idea of a fight with St.Pierre due to these comments. Regardless, the “Chosen One” believes he has already done enough to be considered the best in the world.

“I am the greatest welterweight champion of all time,” Woodley told TMZ Sports following his win on Saturday night. “No disrespect to Georges St-Pierre but I don’t have to fight him to prove that. I’m fighting right now when the sport is at its peak, when the sport is at its hottest. When the athletes are the most supreme, whether it’s genetically using PED’s [performance enhancing drugs] or it’s just because they’ve watched it for the last 25 years and they started wrestling and grappling and striking at the same time. In that era it was the striker, the grappler, and [Georges St-Pierre] made it to the era where wrestlers like Johny Hendricks and Josh Koscheck started to be able to throw punches.”

“Now you’ve got a guy like me, who just got his black belt in jiu-jitsu, All-American wrestler and I’ve out struck all the best strikers in the entire UFC and I train with one of the best boxing coaches in the game, Eric Brown from Wild Card. You would almost say I’m a black belt in three different arts. I’m that type of fighter and then I’m like a Mack truck, then I’m very cerebral and I have a good fight IQ.”

Woodley is well on his way to welterweight royalty but he is still a few title defenses shy of St-Pierre’s record nine. Regardless, the “Chosen One” thinks his resume should speak for itself.

Maybe if Woodley can match GSP’s record nine welterweight title defenses a “legacy fight” would seem more appealing to the Canadian. Time will tell.

Watch Tyron Woodley’s interview with TMZ Sports here:

 

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Tatiana Suarez Open To Potential Karolina Kowalkiewicz Fight Next

This fight could solidify Tatiana Suarez as the next challenger for the UFC women’s strawweight title.

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There’s an interesting race going on right now for a UFC strawweight title opportunity.

At UFC 228 this past weekend, Jessica Andrade shut out Karolina Kowalkiewicz with a first-round knockout in the co-main event. The Brazilian expressed her desire to challenge Rose Namajunas for the 115-pound strap next.

Another woman with a claim to the next title shot is former Ultimate Fighter winner Tatiana Suarez. She made quite the statement Saturday night with a third round TKO win over former women’s strawweight champion Carla Esparza.

Suarez dominated Esparza in the wrestling department and battered her with ground-and-pound. In the third round, she did enough for the referee to call the action off.

Should Andrade get the title nod before her, however, Suarez tells MMA Junkie she’s okay with a fight against Karolina Kowalkiewicz first:

“It’s up to the UFC, but I feel like (I could deserve a title shot) after a performance like that, against a former champion,” Suarez said.

“(Esparza) beat Rose in a dominant fashion, I beat (Esparza) in a dominant fashion. But if (Namajunas is) not who they give me, I’ll take whoever loses (between Andrade and Kowalkiewicz). Whoever wins that fight is probably going to get a title shot.

“I’ll go ahead and dominate (the loser), and then I’ll get my title shot.”

Suarez currently holds an undefeated record of 7-0. In that time she has finished five of those fights via either knockout or submission.

The 27-year-old has really impressed the MMA community with her ability, drawing comparisons to lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov for her dominant grappling ability.

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Shevchenko Blasts Nicco Montano’s ‘Crazy’ Weight Miss

Shevchenko is not taking Nicco Montano’s failure to show up to fight night well.

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Valentina Shevchenko is not happy about missing out on yet another UFC title opportunity.

The former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger was scheduled to take on Nicco Montano in the co-main event of this past weekend’s UFC 228 pay-per-view (PPV). Montano was set to make her first career 125-pound title defense.

Instead, Montano experienced a complication during her weight-cut and was hospitalized. As a result, Montano was pulled from the card by UFC medical officials. UFC President Dana White subsequently made the decision to strip Montano of her title.

Today (Mon. September 10, 2018) Shevchenko took to The MMA Hour and voiced her frustrations on the matter. She blasted Montano for coming in “20 pounds over” on fight week (quotes via MMA Mania):

“She had enough time to prepare for the fight,” Shevchenko said. “Only she was the one, the one who was responsible for the weight cut was she. She knows her body, how it reacts. And she had to be able to make it earlier, to start her weight cut.

“Not come into fight week weighing 20 pounds over. It’s crazy. Even for the boys, they’re cutting much more than the girls, it’s crazy to come 20 pounds over for fight week.

”You have to start your diet earlier, you be professional,” she continued. “You have to be responsible about what you have in your hands. But this is total irresponsibility.

“Totally unprofessional things from her. And now complaining about everything, making statements like everyone is at fault. She gets what she deserves, in fact.”

Dana White has said that he will give Shevchenko the opportunity to compete for the vacant 125-pound title. White also said he already has a name in mind that he’d like Shevchenko to face for the opportunity, but he didn’t divulge who.

Early speculation points to former UFC women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk being the front-runner.

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