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LAS VEGAS – It was thanks to her better performance, but Valentina Shevchenko passed the field by such a large margin that she doesn’t have to be at her best to win.
Shevchenko completely stopped Lauren Murphy’s offense on Saturday and controlled the fight throughout, before stopping Murphy four minutes into the fourth round to retain her flyweight title in the UFC 266 main co-event at the T-Mobile Arena.
Shevchenko is so impressive that after interviewing her in the cage, former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier asked if he could pose with her for a photo.
The beginning of the end came when Shevchenko grabbed Murphy with a control hook that tripped Murphy through the cage. Shevchenko is a great finisher and it was obvious she was feeling a kill.
She rushed through the cage and quickly knocked Murphy down. Once there, that’s all she wrote. Shevchenko was flawless, dropping elbows and hammer blows on a helpless Murphy.
“I will fight anyone,” said Shevchenko, who has now won eight in a row and 10 of his last 11 and has never lost at flyweight.
The question is, who will want to fight it? Murphy entered the fight on a five-game winning streak and was durable and opportunistic during the streak.
She literally didn’t stand a chance. She had practically no offense. According to UFCstats, she landed 11 of 90 important strikes, but none were truly memorable.
This is what makes Shevchenko so special. She knows how to deny her opponent and she can capitalize on the smaller openings.
She wasn’t doing anything special offensively in the top three, but more than enough to win the innings and pump up Murphy’s face. The moment an opportunity presented itself, Shevchenko went looking for the murder and got it.
The only UFC woman who is competitive with her is bantamweight and featherweight champion Amanda Nunes. Nunes won two closing decisions against Shevchenko at bantamweight, and UFC president Dana White is open to a third fight between them.
Other than Nunes, however, there doesn’t seem to be anyone on the horizon who would have much luck against this dynamic fighter.
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