Valentina Shevchenko believes rematch with Amanda Nunes is inevitable

By Tom Taylor - August 7, 2019

Valentina Shevchenko, the reigning UFC flyweight champion, has battled UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes twice before. Both times the pair fought, Shevchenko came up short via close, competitive decision.

Valentina Shevchenko, Kyrgyzstan

Given Nunes and Shevchenko’s dominance in their respective divisions, and their previous history, many fans are interested in seeing them rematch in a champion versus champion super fight.

For the moment, however, this is not a major concern for Valentina Shevchenko. She waited a long time for the UFC to introduce a women’s flyweight division, and a similarly long time to fight for the divisional title. So, she’s content to focus on flyweight for the time being.

“All I can say is that my goal right now is to fight in my weight class because I was waiting for a long time to fight in my natural weight class,” she said on the latest episode of BJPenn.com Radio. “You saw I was fighting these bigger opponents, taller than me, and of course it affects your game a little bit, but even having all this trouble, I was feeling strong enough to fight at 135 [pounds] in the bantamweight division. But now I want to be in my natural weight class because it finally happened and I can do my thing here.

While Shevchenko is focused on the flyweight division for the moment, she believes a third fight with Amanda Nunes is inevitable whether the two champions like it or not.

“The fight against Amanda, you know, I think it’s gonna happen sometime in the future but not because she wants it or I want it, it’s just gonna happen,” Shevchenko said. “I just believe it’s gonna happen sometime in the future.”

Valentina Shevchenko is currently scheduled to defend her title against Liz Carmouche in the main event of UFC Uruguay. Here’s how you can watch the card. 

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 8/7/2019.

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


Topics:

Exclusive MMA Interviews UFC Valentina Shevchenko