Paige VanZant Talks ‘Terrifying’ Valentina Shevchenko, Gives Update On Comeback

Paige VanZant does not see herself facing UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko anytime soon. Shevchenko continued to showcase her dominance at 125 pounds when she brutally knocked out Jessica Eye with a head kick at UFC 238 earlier this month. It was her first title defense and also put her at 3-0 since making […]

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Paige VanZant does not see herself facing UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko anytime soon.

Shevchenko continued to showcase her dominance at 125 pounds when she brutally knocked out Jessica Eye with a head kick at UFC 238 earlier this month. It was her first title defense and also put her at 3-0 since making the move down to flyweight.

There doesn’t seem to be any real next contender for “The Bullet” either, and nobody can blame them. And VanZant, who is 1-1 since moving up to flyweight, believes the champion is on a completely different level than the rest of the pack.

“I am going to be real honest — she is terrifying,” VanZant said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show. “I plan on being in the UFC, training and fighting forever. She will probably retire before I fight for the title, to be totally honest.

“You know, I am only 25 so I want to work my way up. As far as anyone I see right now to dethrone her, no, there is nobody, she’s amazing. I know she has said bad things about me in the past, but I don’t care. Her striking is absolutely next level. She is so, gosh, methodical in her striking and technical. It’s like nothing I have ever seen before. So I am working on being like her. I want striking like hers. So, congrats to the champ, that was just an awesome performance.”

VanZant Provides Comeback Timeline

First, VanZant will need to return to the Octagon and remain active. The 25-year-old was sidelined once again as she had to undergo surgery last week after fracturing her right arm earlier this year.

The surgery fortunately went well as “12 Gauge” now expects to be back in training in 12 weeks. Her ideal return date is the UFC’s end-of-year card in December:

“12-week recovery process,” VanZant added. “It was 12 weeks from last Thursday so we’re one week into it so far. There’s always a really big card at the end of the year for the UFC so I’m hoping for that end of the year card.”

If that is the case, it would be just her fourth fight since December 2016. It is also notably the last fight on her UFC deal.

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B/R MMA Mid-Year Awards: Best Fight, Fighter and Finish from 2019 so Far

2019 has been a wild ride for the sport of MMA . The UFC kicked off a new era with its partnership with ESPN, ONE Championship has arrived as an international player and Bellator …

2019 has been a wild ride for the sport of MMA . The UFC kicked off a new era with its partnership with ESPN, ONE Championship has arrived as an international player and Bellator …

Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Leon Edwards Official For UFC San Antonio Main Event

A crucial welterweight showdown has been finalized for July’s UFC San Antonio. According to Yahoo’s Kevin Iole, former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will meet rising welterweight Leon Edwards in a five-round bout to cap off the card…

A crucial welterweight showdown has been finalized for July’s UFC San Antonio. According to Yahoo’s Kevin Iole, former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will meet rising welterweight Leon Edwards in a five-round bout to cap off the card: “Main event for UFC on ESPN 4 in San Antonio finalized: It will be Rafael dos Anjos […]

The post Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Leon Edwards Official For UFC San Antonio Main Event appeared first on MMA News.

UFC 238 Prelims Draw Biggest Ratings In Months

It’s no secret that the UFC prelims have been struggling to find ratings success on television in recent months. The prelim ratings for the company’s two most recent pay-per-view (PPV) events – UFC 236 in April and UFC 237 in May &#82…

It’s no secret that the UFC prelims have been struggling to find ratings success on television in recent months. The prelim ratings for the company’s two most recent pay-per-view (PPV) events – UFC 236 in April and UFC 237 in May – both brought in diminishing returns. However, according to a report from MMA Fighting’s […]

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Report: Valentina Shevchenko’s Next Title Defense Being Discussed For UFC San Antonio

UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko may already have her next title defense lined up. ‘Bullet’ picked up one of the more jaw-dropping MMA knockouts of 2019 thus far when she decimated Jessica Eye via second-round head …

UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko may already have her next title defense lined up. ‘Bullet’ picked up one of the more jaw-dropping MMA knockouts of 2019 thus far when she decimated Jessica Eye via second-round head kick in the co-main event of last weekend’s UFC 238 (highlights) from Chicago, Ill. Shevchenko took little if […]

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UFC Rankings Update: Valentina Shevchenko Passes Tyron Woodley On P4P List

We have a UFC rankings update following this past weekend’s (Sat. June 8, 2019) UFC 238 pay-per-view (PPV) in Chicago. Henry Cejudo captured the vacant bantamweight championship by defeating Marlon Moraes in the main event. He now reigns as the UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion of the world. However, he remains the No. 4-ranked pound-for-pound […]

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We have a UFC rankings update following this past weekend’s (Sat. June 8, 2019) UFC 238 pay-per-view (PPV) in Chicago.

Henry Cejudo captured the vacant bantamweight championship by defeating Marlon Moraes in the main event. He now reigns as the UFC flyweight and bantamweight champion of the world. However, he remains the No. 4-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

However, one champion who did move up the pound-for-pound rankings is women’s flyweight champion, Valentina Shevchenko. “The Bullet” defeated Jessica Eye to successfully retain her title in the co-main event of UFC 238. Currently, she’s preparing for a quick turnaround to defend her title again next month. Now, she moves past former 170-pound champion Tyron Woodley on the pound-for-pound list to No. 13.

Check out the updated UFC fighter rankings here below:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Jon Jones
3 Khabib Nurmagomedov
4 Henry Cejudo
5 Max Holloway
6 Amanda Nunes 
7 Kamaru Usman
8 Dustin Poirier
9 Conor McGregor
10 Robert Whittaker
11 Stipe Miocic
12 Tony Ferguson
13 Valentina Shevchenko +1
14 Tyron Woodley -1
15 Jessica Andrade

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Jussier Formiga
2 Joseph Benavidez
3 Alexandre Pantoja
4 Deiveson Figueiredo
5 Tim Elliott
6 Rogerio Bontorin
7 Ryan Benoit
8 Jordan Espinosa
9 Kai Kara France
10 Alex Perez
11 Raulian Paiva
12 Matt Schnell
13 VACANT
14 VACANT
15 VACANT

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Henry Cejudo
1 Marlon Moraes
2 Aljamain Sterling +1
3 Raphael Assuncao -1
4 Petr Yan +5
5 Pedro Munhoz -1
6 Dominick Cruz -1
7 Cody Garbrandt -1
8 Jimmie Rivera -1
9 Corey Sandhagen -1
10 John Lineker
11 Cody Stamann
12 Rob Font
13 John Dodson
14 Alejandro Perez
15 Thomas Almeida

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Alexander Volkanovski
2 Brian Ortega
3 Jose Aldo
4 Frankie Edgar
5 Renato Moicano
6 Zabit Magomedsharipov
7 Jeremy Stephens 
8 Josh Emmett 
9 Calvin Kattar +6
10 Mirsad Bektic -1
11 Yair Rodriguez
12 Chan Sung Jung
13 Shane Burgos (T)
13 Lorenzo Lamas (T) -2
15 Darren Elkins -1

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Dustin Poirier (Interim Champion)
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Conor McGregor
4 Donald Cerrone
5 Justin Gaethje 
6 Al Iaquinta
7 Edson Barboza
8 Kevin Lee +1
9 Anthony Pettis -1
10 Paul Felder
11 Charles Oliveira
12 Gregor Gillespie
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Islam Makhachev
15 James Vick

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Kamaru Usman
1 Tyron Woodley
2 Colby Covington
3 Rafael Dos Anjos
4 Jorge Masvidal
5 Ben Askren
6 Darren Till
7 Stephen Thompson
8 Anthony Pettis
9 Santiago Ponzinibbio
10 Robbie Lawler
11 Leon Edwards
12 Demian Maia
13 Neil Magny 
14 Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
15 Vincente Luque

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Israel Adesanya (Interim Champion)
2 Yoel Romero
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jack Hermansson
6 Ronaldo Souza
7 Chris Weidman
8 Paulo Costa
9 Derek Brunson
10 Jared Cannonier
11 Ian Heinisch
12 Brad Tavares
13 Antonio Carlos Junior
14 Uriah Hall
15 David Branch

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Jon Jones
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Thiago Santos
3 Anthony Smith
4 Alexander Gustafsson
5 Dominick Reyes
6 Jan Blachowicz
7 Volkan Oezdemir
8 Corey Anderson
9 Ilir Latifi
10 Glover Teixeira
11 Aleksandar Rakic
12 Johnny Walker
13 Mauricio Rua
14 Nikita Krylov *NR
15 Misha Cirkunov

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Francis Ngannou
3 Junior Dos Santos
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis
6 (T) Alexander Volkov
6 (T) Alistair Overeem
8 Cain Velasquez
9 Aleksei Oleinik
10 Shamil Abdurakhimov
11 Blagoy Ivanov +2
12 Tai Tuivasa -1
13 Marcin Tybura -1
14 Walt Harris
15 Augusto Sakai

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Jessica Andrade
1 Rose Namajunas
2 Tatiana Suarez
3 Nina Ansaroff
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5 Claudia Gadelha
6 Weili Zhang 
7 Michelle Waterson 
8 Tecia Torres
9 Carla Esparza
10 Cynthia Calvillo +1
11 Alexa Grasso +2
12 Felice Herrig
13 Karolina Kowalkiewicz -3
14 Randa Markos
15 Cortney Casey

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Valentina Shevchenko
1 Jessica Eye
2 Katlyn Chookagian
3 Liz Carmouche
4 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
5 Roxanne Modafferi
6 Joanne Calderwood
7 Alexis Davis
8 (T) Lauren Murphy
8 (T) Jennifer Maia
10 Andrea Lee
11 Montana De La Rosa
12 Mara Romero Borella
13 Maycee Barber
14 Paige VanZant
15 Poliana Botelho

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Germaine de Randamie
2 Holly Holm
3 Ketlen Vieira
4 Aspen Ladd
5 Raquel Pennington
6 Cat Zingano
7 Yana Kunitskaya
8 Marion Reneau
9 Irene Aldana
10 Sara McMann
11 Macy Chiasson
12 Lina Lansberg
13 Tonya Evinger
14 Sijara Eubanks
15 Bethe Correia

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