Valentina Shevchenko was already one of the greatest female fighters in the history of MMA. At UFC 322, she beat one of her peers in that group. Convincingly.
In a battle of champions, Shevchenko had no trouble punishing and suppressing former UFC strawweight champion Zhang Weili on her way to a win by unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45), a full shutout. It wasn’t the most entertaining fight, especially after a string of three straight early KOs to open the main card, but it was certainly impressive.
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As the final horn sounded, Shevchenko had nothing else to do but raise her arms and dance.
It was the fight Shevchenko likely wanted. Both women are among the most technically skilled fighters to enter the Octagon, but one thing became unavoidably clear as the fight progressed: one of them was bigger than the other.
Weili was the more aggressive fighter, but found no paths to negate the size advantage of Shevchenko. All five rounds ended the same way, with Weili on her back, frantically, trying to prevent the champ from ending the fight then and there. Shevchenko landed more blows, landed the bigger blows and won the control time fight by a not-small margin.
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She made some history in the process.
By the time the fight was in the championship rounds, Shevchenko’s coach was warning her about the dangers of slipping on the Octagon’s canvas. The problem of Weili had already been figured out.
For full coverage of UFC 322, including live results, play-by-play and highlights of the entire Jack Della Maddalena vs. Islam Makhachev pay-per-view card, check out Uncrowned’s UFC 322 hub.