Valentina Shevchenko | UFC Betting Sites - The Best MMA Online Bookies

Former Opponent Says Valentina Shevchenko May Struggle With One Aspect Of Fighting Manon Fiorot

Following the conclusion of her trilogy with Alexa Grasso, flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko is ready to move on to her next challenger. Fortunately for her, in the time between her first and final encounters with Grasso, a new contender has emerged at the top of the division that she is yet to face. French striker […]

Continue Reading Former Opponent Says Valentina Shevchenko May Struggle With One Aspect Of Fighting Manon Fiorot at MMA News.

French striker Manon Fiorot has won seven in a row since arriving in the UFC to mark her out as the clear and obvious next challenger for Shevchenko. In her last two fights, she beat Rose Namajunas and Erin Blanchfield who faced off with one another this past weekend in Edmonton.

After Blanchfield secured the decision win, she called out Grasso for a title eliminator whilst she waits for Fiorot to get her long deserved title shot. In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Fiorot’s former opponent gave her thoughts on how she might fare against the champion.

Blanchfield drew attention to the size of the challenger as an interesting problem for Shevchenko to try and solve with her efficient and varied toolbox. In what many will expect to be Fiorot’s striking versus Shevchenko’s grappling, the size difference between them could end up being a crucial factor in the fight.

The champion may have previously competed as a bantamweight but she isn’t the biggest fighter in this weight class and that could be an issue for her because of how good Fiorot is at using this to her advantage.

“I think Manon can use her size. I think she’s a very big flyweight and she knows how to use her range and like her length. I think Valentina is more like dynamic and has more skills so I’m curious how Valentina is going to deal with her size because I know in the past, let’s say with like Taila, I remember complaining about how big Taila is and I feel like Manon’s significantly bigger so yeah, I think it’s a good match-up and I’m curious to see how it goes.”

Continue Reading Former Opponent Says Valentina Shevchenko May Struggle With One Aspect Of Fighting Manon Fiorot at MMA News.

UFC Hall of Famer Believes the Promotion’s Lack of Star Power is Due to Shorter Championship Reigns

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier Explains What Makes a Truly 'Great Championship Reign' Today Lengthy UFC title reigns seem to be a thing of the past. It doesn’t feel like it was that…

Lengthy UFC title reigns seem to be a thing of the past.

It doesn’t feel like it was that long ago that we all sat in front of our TVs on Saturday nights and marveled at the dominance of UFC champions like Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, and Demetrious Johnson, all of whom carried their respective titles for a combined 6,663 days.

Other fighters such as Jose Aldo and Jon Jones have had undeniably impressive title runs with ‘Junior’ defending the featherweight title seven times and ‘Bones’ notching 11 total defenses across two different reigns as the UFC light heavyweight champion.

With championship reigns seemingly getting shorter and shorter, Cormier believes that could offer an explanation as to why the UFC is sorely lacking star power these days. ‘DC’ also offered his take on how many defenses a fighter needs in this day in age before reaching that coveted Hall of Fame status.

“I think the reason we don’t have that star, is it’s hard to be a long-reigning champion,” Cormier said on a recent episode of Good Guy/Bad Guy with Chael Sonnen. “That’s the problem. The game has gotten so hard now, that Anderson [Silva] had what, 11 title defenses? Jon Jones had 13? Who is doing that anymore? We talked bout Sean O’Malley as if he had a great title reign, but he defended the belt one time. Imagine if he did it seven times…

“A long title reign is very difficult. It’s what’s needed to become a real draw. You cannot just be a flash-in-the-pan champion. Unfortunately, [Israel Adesanya] was a draw because he held that belt for a long time, but since he lost the belt, the number isn’t as great…the reigns aren’t as long [now]. I was talking to some of the guys on the weigh-in show… what would you consider a great championship reign today? For me right now, I think defending that belt three times. Winning the title, defending it three times, I think it gets you in the Hall of Fame because it’s so hard to hold on to the belt today” (h/t BJPenn.com).

Valentina Shevchenko, Kamaru Usman, and Amanda Nunes have the most dominant UFC title reigns in recent years

Nowadays, a reign like the ones that Silva, GSP, and ‘Mighty Mouse’ had just don’t seem to exist. The closest we’ve gotten to it thus far has been Valentina Shevchenko who defended the women’s flyweight title seven times before surrendering the belt to Alexa Grasso in March 2023.

Since then, ‘Bullet’ has regained the title and will look to resume her dominance over the division in 2025.

The next closest thing to her impressive run was Kamaru Usman’s successful defense of the welterweight title five times in less than two years, though four of those five fights came against Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal.

Israel Adesanya and Amanda Nunes also defended their middleweight and bantamweight titles five times apiece.

‘The Last Stylebender’ ultimately surrendered his belt to Alex Pereira in late 2022 before taking it back five months later while Nunes opted to lay down her gold and retire last year following a dominant performance against Irene Aldana at UFC 289.

Valentina Shevchenko Says Judges Influenced Noche UFC 306 Game Plan

After what happened at last year’s Noche UFC card, Valentina Shevchenko made it perfectly clear that she wanted a trilogy fight with Alexa Grasso on neutral ground. The current UFC flyweight champion failed to reclaim her title in the second fight with Grasso after the bout was controversially scored as a draw. Shevchenko had no […]

Continue Reading Valentina Shevchenko Says Judges Influenced Noche UFC 306 Game Plan at MMA News.

After what happened at last year’s Noche UFC card, Valentina Shevchenko made it perfectly clear that she wanted a trilogy fight with Alexa Grasso on neutral ground.

The current UFC flyweight champion failed to reclaim her title in the second fight with Grasso after the bout was controversially scored as a draw.

Shevchenko had no problem stating that the result was an outcome of their fight taking place on a card that was set to celebrate Mexican Independence Day.

Though she won the belt back at UFC 306 with a dominant performance on the same exact weekend one calendar year later, the “Bullet” says that she was forced to change up her approach as a result of the location of the fight.

Valentina Shevchenko Says That She Adapted Her Game Plan To Counter Biased Judging At UFC 306

In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Shevchenko was asked whether the fight taking place at Noche UFC once again made her nervous about the way that the judges would score the fight.

The champ went on to reveal that the setting of UFC 306 at the Sphere made her adjust her game plan in order to try and counter any potentially biased scoring.

“I knew exactly what had happened last time and now even being the bigger event, it’s like all about the culture, all about celebrating the Mexican culture and having the Mexican champion on the card, of course definitely everyone want to celebrate. Definitely I know exactly what is like how much pressure on my shoulders and I just say they don’t leave me any other choice.”

Shevchenko received some criticism for putting on a boring display in the co-main event where the majority of the fight saw her controlling Grasso with her wrestling.

She revealed that this was somewhat intentional because if the judges were going to value Grasso’s success higher than hers, her best route to victory was to shut her opponent down entirely.

“I knew going into this fight that I cannot let this happen again. I didn’t have another choice. Don’t let her have this successful combination, not even one. That’s why it was like pure, I was faster in the striking so she could not respond on my striking and definitely I wanted to show them my skills in the ground game.

“It was like no choice for me, they didn’t leave me another one. Just only completely destroy the game plan of Alexa and show that she cannot do anything. Not in the striking, not in the wrestling, not in the grappling.”

Continue Reading Valentina Shevchenko Says Judges Influenced Noche UFC 306 Game Plan at MMA News.

B/R MMA Power Rankings After UFC 306

Saturday’s UFC 306 card at Sphere in Las Vegas wasn’t just the most lavishly produced event the promotion has ever put on, it also changed the MMA landscape,…

UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis

As always, the latest action on offer inside the Octagon has seen some climb the ladder toward contention and others fall away. And in the aftermath of UFC 306 (Noche UFC), MMA News has you covered with this week’s updates to the official UFC rankings. Men’s Pound-For-Pound: Merab Dvalishvili closed out Saturday’s event with his long-awaited championship […]

Continue Reading UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis at MMA News.

As always, the latest action on offer inside the Octagon has seen some climb the ladder toward contention and others fall away.

And in the aftermath of UFC 306 (Noche UFC), MMA News has you covered with this week’s updates to the official UFC rankings.

Men’s Pound-For-Pound: Merab Dvalishvili closed out Saturday’s event with his long-awaited championship crowning. As a result, the bantamweight kingpin has debuted on the P4P list at #7, one position above interim heavyweight titleholder Tom Aspinall. Further up, welterweight champ Belal Muhammad (#5) has jumped his middleweight counterpart Dricus Du Plessis (#6).

The defeated O’Malley, meanwhile, has slid seven positions to #13. Dvalishvili’s friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling is out of the top 15 entirely following the Georgian’s arrival.

Women’s Pound-for-Pound: Valentina Shevchenko is once again the flyweight queen, and she’s also back on the P4P mountaintop. “Bullet” has climbed two places back to top spot, while previous #1 Alexa Grasso has fallen to #3 following her lopsided loss to Shevchenko in their trilogy.

Women’s Strawweight: No changes.

Women’s Flyweight: The sole change at 125 pounds has seen Grasso slip back to top contender status, swapping positions with now-champ Shevchenko.

Women’s Bantamweight: Norma Dumont secured the biggest win of her career in the Noche UFC featured prelim, outpointing a badly damaged Irene Aldana. The result has seen the Brazilian ascend by three positions to #5 at 135 pounds. The defeated Mexican, on the other hand, is down just one spot to #6.

Flyweight: In the male 125-pound weight class, Asu Almabayev has moved up one place to share #14 with the recently retired Matt Schnell.

Bantamweight: Like in the women’s flyweight division, the only change in the men’s 135-pound division came with the switch on the throne. With Dvalishvili now occupying it, O’Malley is the #1-ranked bantamweight.

Featherweight: The biggest climber this week is the charging Diego Lopes, who got the better of former two-time title challenger and longtime top-five contender Brian Ortega on Saturday night. The Mexico-residing Brazilian has risen by a mammoth 10 positions to #3. “T-City,” meanwhile, has been relegated to #5.

With Movsar Evloev staying put at #6, the changes have led to a two-place fall to #7 for Arnold Allen.

Lightweight: No changes.

Welterweight: No changes.

Middleweight: No changes.

Light Heavyweight: No changes.

Heavyweight: No changes.

You can view the full updated UFC rankings here.

Continue Reading UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis at MMA News.

UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis

Continue Reading UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis at MMA News.

As always, the latest action on offer inside the Octagon has seen some climb the ladder toward contention and others fall away.

And in the aftermath of UFC 306 (Noche UFC), MMA News has you covered with this week’s updates to the official UFC rankings.

The defeated O’Malley, meanwhile, has slid seven positions to #13. Dvalishvili’s friend and teammate Aljamain Sterling is out of the top 15 entirely following the Georgian’s arrival.

Women’s Strawweight: No changes.

Women’s Flyweight: The sole change at 125 pounds has seen Grasso slip back to top contender status, swapping positions with now-champ Shevchenko.

Flyweight: In the male 125-pound weight class, Asu Almabayev has moved up one place to share #14 with the recently retired Matt Schnell.

With Movsar Evloev staying put at #6, the changes have led to a two-place fall to #7 for Arnold Allen.

Lightweight: No changes.

Welterweight: No changes.

Middleweight: No changes.

Light Heavyweight: No changes.

Heavyweight: No changes.

You can view the full updated UFC rankings here.

Continue Reading UFC Rankings Report: Dvalishvili Lands Above Aspinall In P4P Top 10, Muhammad Jumps Du Plessis at MMA News.