Valentina Shevchenko will put her UFC Women’s Flyweight Championship on the line against Lauren Murphy in the co-main event of UFC 266 on the 25th of September in Las Vegas.
Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko (21-3-0) has turned out to be one of the most dominant champions on the entire UFC roster and will be looking for that important sixth consecutive title defense in the Women’s flyweight division. Currently, the 33-year-old martial artist holds a winning streak of seven wins with some memorable wins over Jennifer Maia and Katlyn Chookagain. Shevchenko’s most recent win came against Jessica Andrade in which she knocked her opponent out after just three minutes of Round 2.
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Meanwhile, Lauren “Lucky” Murphy (15-4-0), after a poor start to her UFC career, is finally back on track. At the moment, she holds an incredible five-fight win streak which brought her to #3 in the Women’s flyweight division and also earned her first-ever shot at UFC gold. In her incredible run, the American martial artist picked up some notable wins over Andrea Lee, Roxanne Modafferi and most recently Joanne Calderwood which she won via split decision and got to the top contender’s list at 125 pounds.
Lauren Murphy who comes in as an underdog in the fight believes that she has what it takes to become a champion. In one of her recent interviews, she said, “I really wanted to know what I was capable of. That’s why I took my first fight ever because I wanted to know if I could do it, like how much I have. Am I capable of doing something like that, and that goal post has been moved so much throughout my career, so that’s always the question I’m asking myself, is what am I capable of, over the last 10, 12 years, I’ve really surprised myself, and I’ve surprised the people around me, and it’s been an incredible journey. I don’t think it’s going to end on Sept. 25 either. I really believe I’m capable of amazing things.”
PREDICTION: Valentina Shevchenko to win via Knockout
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As the stats speak, Valentina Shevchenko has been unstoppable in the flyweight division and a lack of depth in the division is a big reason why Murphy got the title shot. Our prediction for the fight is another straightforward win for Shevchenko which could perhaps set her up for another crack at Amanda Nunes in the future.
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Shashank Iyer