After her dominant win against Jennifer Maia, the question is who can dethrone the flyweight queen in her division. Valentina Shevchenko’s fights are never close either by decision or brutal knockout. She always comes in at least -1000 favorite which means that whoever she fought is heavily expected to lose.
Valentina Shevchenko might have the biggest talent disparity of a champion and contenders. It may be because of the lack of contenders but it still a full roster. The first flyweight champion was Nicco Montano.
Nicco Montano won the inaugural flyweight belt in the Ultimate Fighter against Roxanne Modafferi. Montano and Shevchenko were then set for the title belt but the fight did not happen due to Montano pulling out.
Montano as of this moment has a record of 4-3 which means she is not even credible for a belt. Shevchenko even said before the fight that Montano will find excuses to avoid the fight.
Shevchenko was then set to face Joanna Jędrzejczyk for the vacant flyweight belt. Both had already fought each other prior to the UFC. Joanna Jędrzejczyk was the longest-reigning strawweight champion and just came off a back to back loss against Rose Namajunas. She bounced back a win with Tecia Torres prior to fighting Shevchenko.
They had encountered at Amateur Kickboxing and Muay Thai tournament 3 times. Shevchenko all won 3 so it would make sense she was the favorite plus she is the bigger fighter.
In the current flyweight division, the only contenders that have not fought for the belt which is coming off a win are Lauren Murphy and former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade.
Jessica Andrade is known for being a power puncher and body-slamming Rose Namajunas to win the strawweight belt. Andrade is small for her size but she might have the most power in terms of knockout power.
Dana White said that Andrade is the next potential opponent for Shevchenko. It is interesting because Andrade has the highest chance among the contenders right now in the division to beat the Champion.
But Andrade is still 1-2 in his last 3 fights and has only one win in the division so it would be unfair to the other contenders if she got the title shot first. If she was the current champion of the strawweight it would probably make sense but she had a back-to-back loss prior to her last fight.
The Champion also had her opinion on what should the UFC do. She said that Lauren Murphy and Jessica Andrade should fight for the title contender spot.
Meanwhile, she will move and avenger her loss against Amanda Nunes. She said that it is the only fight that excites her and that she won the second fight. Many fans agree with the Shevchenko winning the second fight as well but the judges did not think so.
It is really amazing realizing Shevchenko was too small for the Bantamweight division but still had success. The only thing that she did not achieve was to get the strap which she can if the UFC grants her request of moving up and fight Nunes.
Another mega-fight possible is if current strawweight champion Zhang WeiLi will move up to attempt to become a double champ. Some fans are more interested in this because they have not seen it and are curious about how the fight will happen.
While beating Nunes does a lot more for Shevchenko’s legacy, it is the UFC’s decision on what is next for the flyweight champion.
