UFC Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko will be putting her belt on the line against Jennifer Maia this weekend, at UFC 255. However she still wants to avenge her last pro loss, against champ-champ Amanda Nunes.
Since the creation of the 125lb women’s division in the UFC, Shevchenko has been an unstoppable force of nature, completely dominating the weight class. It has made it somewhat easy to forget her run at bantamweight that saw her nearly as dominant, with the only exception being two losses to bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes. Nevertheless, fans still remember this, particularly the second bout which left a lot of people feeling like Valentina should have been given the decision nod over Nunes.
Valentina Shevchenko Says Third Fight With Nunes Is Inevitable
Currently Valentina Shevchenko is gearing up for her next title defense against Jennifer Maia, but she has not forgotten about Amanda Nunes. Speaking in a recent interview, she explained that she feels that a third fight with the Brazilian is definitely going to happen. Moreover she doubled down on the idea that she should have won their second fight.
“I still think that’s going to happen. I don’t know, sooner or later. I don’t know, but I think it’s going to happen before we both retire,” Shevchenko said. “Our second fight, the last fight, it was not the right result. That’s why I think it’s going to happen still.”
Flyweight Is The Future
Just because Valentina Shevchenko still wants to fight Amanda Nunes does not mean that she is looking past Maia or any other opponents in the flyweight division. A lot of people have criticized the lack of depth in the division, in part due to the dominance of the champion. Yet Valentina does not quite understand these criticisms, and actually believes that this division is the future of women’s MMA.
“From time to time I hear people saying that flyweight is not that good,” Shevchenko said. “It’s not bad. I don’t know why people say this cliche about flyweight because it’s totally not true. If you see each fighter (in the) top ten, they are all strong. They are all very interesting fighters and I think that they would be a problem for anyone at bantamweight or strawweight. I definitely think the future of female MMA is in flyweight. It’s the perfect weight class for female athletes, and you can see now a lot of bantamweights going down, a lot of strawweights going up, and a lot of people coming in from outside promotions and joining the UFC. So it’s going to be even more interesting in the future.”
This is an interesting outlook from Valentina Shevchenko. However even if flyweight is the future of women’s MMA, there is still quite the demand to see her fight at bantamweight one more time, against Amanda Nunes.