Taila Santos believes she defeated Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 275, wants rematch: “There’s no point fighting someone else”

Taila Santos believes that she should’ve defeated Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 275 last Saturday.

Last weekend, the Brazilian headed into her flyweight title bout with ‘The Bullet’ as a massive underdog. Against all odds, Santos had a lot of success against Shevchenko. The 28-year-old dominated the fight on the mat early and took the champion down several times.

The championship rounds saw the champion begin to rally. Aided by an accidental headbutt that broke Santos’s orbital bone, Shevchenko found success of her own in the final frames. At the end of the five-round bout, the champion retained her title via split decision.

The decision was one that was controversial to many fans and pundits. Names such as Daniel Cormier and Brendan Schaub opined that the Brazilian deserved the victory. Now, Taila Santos herself has given her thoughts on the fight.

The 28-year-old discussed the fight with Valentina Shevchenko on the Trocação Franca podcast. Taila Santos revealed that she believed that she won the first three rounds of her UFC 275 fight. She also voiced her want to have a rematch with the champion.

“I think that [I won] up until the third round when my eye was still OK. But, I still managed to get her down in the fourth. I ended up getting taken down in the last round but took her down in four rounds, I think the first [three rounds] were mine. I haven’t sat down to analyze the fight yet, I have to re-watch it. But I was able to take her down in the fourth as well and control for a bit, but she got back up quickly.” (h/t MMAFighting)

Taila Santos continued, “There’s no point fighting someone else [in a tune-up fight] if I’ve already fought her. I had never fought five rounds before and went straight for the trial by fire, straight in a five-round fight with the best in the world, the champion. I’m tested already.”